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THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY  FROM  WITHIN 


THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 
FROM  WITHIN 


BY 


W.  BARNES  STEVENI 

Twenty-five  Years  Special  Correspondent 
Resident  in  Russia 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
GEORGE   H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


in  a 


T 


PREFACE 

OWING  to  the  unusual  interest  now  taken  in 
Russian  military  matters,  I  have  been  in- 
duced to  write  the  following  account  of  the  Russian 
Army  from  within.  This  little  work,  written  in  less 
than  a  fortnight,  does  not  profess  to  be  of  a  techni- 
cal nature,  but  is  simply  an  account  of  the  Russian 
commanders  and  soldiers  and  the  impression  they 
made  upon  me  during  the  twenty-seven  years  I  re- 
sided in  various  parts  of  the  Empire,  more  espe- 
cially in  Cronstadt,  Finland,  Petrograd,  Krasno 
Selo,  Little  Russia  and  the  Caucasus. 

W.  B.  S. 
London,  September,  1914. 


215973 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

fACE 

The  Country  and  the  Army ii 


CHAPTER   II 
Russia's  Strength  in  Men  and  Money  ....      19 

CHAPTER   III 
The  Peasant — the  Backbone  of  the  Army        .       .      29 

CHAPTER   IV 
Ivan:  the  Russian  Tommy  Atkins      ....      41 

CHAPTER  V 
Uniform,  Arms,  and  Artillery 57 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  Japanese  War  and  Its  Lessons      ....     71 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Cossacks 87 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The   Cossacks    in    Modern    Times    and    a    Cossack 
Amazon  Now  at  the  Front 99 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   IX 

The  Disposition  of  the  Troops,  and  the  Realism  of   page 
THE   Manoeuvres iiS 

CHAPTER  X 
Bayonet  and   Sword 129 

CHAPTER   XI 
Liability  to  Serve 135 

CHAPTER   XII 
Discipline      .       .       .       .     - 143 

CHAPTER   XIII 
Officers  and  Friends  in  High  Places  ....    151 

CHAPTER   XIV 
Military    Schools 167 

Concluding    Remarks 173 

Appendix        . 179 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  ARMY 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  ARMY 

IT  is  now  a  thousand  years  ago  since  the  Slav- 
onian chieftains  of  the  ancient  city  of  Nov- 
gorod sent  a  deputation  to  the  Varangian  Rus  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Baltic,  begging  them  to  come 
and  rule  over  them ;  for  their  country  was  great  and 
vast,  but  there  was  no  order.  Although  so  many 
generations  have  passed  away  since  these  Vikings 
came  to  Russia  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
first  Russian  state,  the  above  words  still  apply  to 
the  Russia  of  to-day.  Great  she  is,  but  there  is 
very  little  order.  This  being  the  case,  a  year  may 
elapse  before  she  can  get  her  full  fighting  force  into 
the  field.  How  great  her  fighting  capacity  is  when 
properly  organised  we  can  judge  from  the  fact  that 
the  Empire  is  three  times  the  size  of  America  and 
more  than  forty  times  the  area  of  France. 

A  series  of  excellent  harvests  and  a  period  of 
industrial  prosperity  have  tended  to  heal  the  wounds 
caused  by  the  Japanese  war  much  more  quickly  than 
might  have  been  expected.    The  enormous  sums  of 

II 


12  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

money  borrowed  from  France,  estimated  to  exceed 
600  millions  sterling,  have  helped  to  replenish  the 
state  treasury,  to  reconstruct  the  navy  that  was  de- 
stroyed at  Tchushima  and  Port  Arthur,  to  construct 
important  strategic  railways  to  the  Austrian  and 
German  frontiers,  and  to  arm  the  forces  with  the 
very  best  rifles  and  quick-firing  artillery,  which  in 
the  Japanese  war  were  frequently  entirely  lacking 
just  when  most  required. 

The  Russian  Government,  in  view  of  this  long- 
expected  struggle  with  her  western  neighbours,  has 
for  some  time  been  accumulating  a  gold  reserve, 
with  the  result  that  she  is  said  to  have  167  million 
pounds  of  gold  laid  by  in  the  Treasury  for  war  ex- 
penditure as  compared  with  Germany's  £83,000,000. 
We  must  remember  that  Russia  is  about  the  only 
self-supporting  European  state.  Her  huge  terri- 
tories stretch  in  one  unbroken  line  from  the  Baltic 
to  the  Pacific,  a  total  distance  of  about  7000  English 
miles.  In  this  vast  expanse  every  product,  every 
mineral  required  by  man,  occurs  in  such  abundance 
that  considerable  quantities  have  to  be  exported. 
The  great  forests  of  the  North  contain  millions  of 
acres  of  the  finest  timber,  while  the  industrial  region 
around  Moscow  and  Warsaw  supplies  the  Army  and 
people  with  all  the  clothing  and  textiles  they  require. 
South  of  Moscow  there  is  "Little  Russia  the  Boun- 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  ARMY   13 

tiful,"  with  its  expanses  of  corn,  wheat,  rye,  buck- 
wheat, maize,  oats  and  other  cereals,  its  fine  vine- 
yards and  thousands  of  acres  covered  with  tobacco 
and  sugar-beet.  There  is  also  the  rich  granary  of 
Siberia,  which  alone  could  grow  sufficient  grain  to 
supply  the  whole  of  Europe.  It  would  take  volumes 
to  describe  the  inexhaustible  piscatorial,  arborial, 
agricultural  and  mineral  wealth  of  this  Empire.  I 
have,  however,  said  enough  to  show  that  Russia 
could,  if  necessary,  carry  on  a  defensive  war  for 
years  without  feeling  the  need  of  importing  any- 
\thing  from  abroad. 

This  war,  however,  will  probably  not  be  waged 
on  defensive  lines,  for  the  Russians  have  already 
invaded  Austria  and  Germany  in  force  at  about  six 
different  points.  In  this  case  they  will  not  require 
to  make  use  of  vast  stretches  of  territory — marshes, 
morasses  and  forests — to  bring  their  enemies  to 
destruction,  as  they  did  the  armies  of  Charles  XII 
and  Napoleon.  But  whatever  kind  of  war  Russia 
may  choose,  defensive  or  offensive,  she  is  a  mighty 
force  to  be  reckoned  with  by  her  foes,  if  they  are 
wise  and  not  too  self-confident. 

Not  only  rich  in  money,  which  Cicero  called  "the 
sinews  of  war,"  Russia  has  more  men  at  her  dis- 
posal for  military  service  than  any  other  nation  in 
Europe  or  America.     Every  year  about  1,300,000 


14  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

men  attain  the  age  when  they  are  liable  for  service. 
Of  this  number  only  450,000  are  taken,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  state  has  no  need  for  any 
more.  Those  who  are  chosen  are  physically  the  best ; 
Russia  cannot  afford  to  keep  weaklings  in  her  army 
in  a  country  where  the  conditions  of  life  are  so  try- 
ing that  only  men  with  the  very  strongest  constitu- 
tions can  withstand  them.  Owing  to  the  enormous 
size  of  the  Empire  and  the  hundreds  of  races  and 
tribes  inhabiting  it,  the  total  armed  strength  of 
Russia  is  still  an  unknown  quantity.  According  to 
Russian  statistics,  which  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt, 
the  total  mobilised  standing  army  with  reserves 
numbers  about  6  million  trained  men,  or  20  per  cent 
of  the  population.  In  addition  to  this  there  is  the 
"Opolchina,"  or  militia,  numbering  over  a  million 
men.  The  "Opolchina"  consists  of  soldiers  averag- 
ing between  forty  and  fifty  years  of  age  who  have 
served  their  term  in  the  line  and  reserves.  In  spite 
of  their  age,  many  are  excellent  soldiers,  in  some 
respects  superior  to  the  troops  of  the  regular  army. 
When  Russia  was  conquered  and  overrun  by  the 
Poles  it  was  the  Opolchina  of  Nishni  Novgorod, 
under  the  command  of  Prince  P'osharsky  and  the 
butcher  Minin,  who  led  the  way  to  Moscow,  drove 
the  enemy  out  of  the  Kremlin,  and  saved  the  land 
from  the  domination  of  a  foreign  yoke.    During  the 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  ARMY   15 

invasion  of  Napoleon  in  1812  the  Opolchina,  under 
the  leadership  of  the  "Pomeschike"  (country  gen- 
try), also  rendered  signal  service  to  their  country. 

After  these  forces  come  about  16,000  gendarmes, 
the  pick  of  the  army,  and  about  35,000  frontier 
guards,  always  on  a  war  footing.  This  admirable 
body  of  men,  which  was  organised  under  M.  Witte, 
the  famous  Chancellor,  probably  already  has  been 
in  action,  for  its  members  would  be  the  first  to  meet 
an  invader  crossing  the  borders.  Besides  patrolling 
the  frontiers,  they  are  used  to  track  and  fight  with 
smugglers  who  carry  on  a  lively  but  dangerous  busi- 
ness on  both  the  Asiatic  and  European  side. 
Owing  to  the  high  duties  on  all  articles  of  luxury, 
and  on  many  of  the  necessities  of  life,  it  pays  the 
lawless  to  run  the  gauntlet,  just  as  it  did  the  same 
class  in  England  during  the  Georgian  and  early 
Victorian  periods.  The  frontier  guards,  who  are 
continually  contending  with  smugglers  and  other 
desperate  people,  are  all  picked  men — first-class 
horsemen,  excellent  shots,  enduring  and  resourceful. 

The  frontier  guards  are  little  known  outside  of 
Russia;  but  the  Cossacks  have  gained  for  them- 
selves a  world-wide  reputation  for  their  horseman- 
ship, daring,  hardihood  and  contempt  of  death  or 
danger.  In  all,  there  are  about  850,000  Cossacks, 
drawn  not  only  from  the  Don,  Donetz,  the  Caucasus 


i6  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

and  the  Urals,  but  also  from  the  far-distant  prov- 
inces of  Siberia.  The  Cossacks  are  such  an  inter- 
esting body  that  I  will  describe  them  in  detail  later 
on,  and  explain  many  curious  features  concerning 
them  that  are  not  known  to  the  general  public ;  for 
I  have  lived  among  them. 


RUSSIA'S  STRENGTH  IN  MEN 
AND  MONEY 


CHAPTER    II 

RUSSIA'S  STRENGTH  IN  MEN 
AND  MONEY 

FROM  the  Russian  habit  of  understating  the 
strength  of  each  regiment  I  am  inclined  to 
beheve  that  the  effective  fighting  force  is  even 
greater  than  is  officially  announced.  If  the  coun- 
try is  now  able  to  raise  such  an  enormous  standing 
army  with  ease  what  will  she  be  able  to  do  in  an- 
other hundred  years?  Only  about  200  years  ago 
Peter  the  Great  was  living  a  peaceful  life  near  the 
site  of  the  present  Charing  Cross  Station,  study- 
ing the  art  of  shipbuilding.  Russia  then  possessed 
no  fleet  worthy  of  the  name.  Her  population  was 
about  14  million  souls.  By  the  year  1859  it  had 
risen  to  74  millions;  in  1897  it  was  129  millions 
without  including  Finland;  in  1904  it  had  reached 
143  millions,  and  in  1906,  according  to  a  detailed 
estimate  of  the  Central  Statistical  Committee,  the 
total  was  149  millions.  At  the  present  time  those 
who  are  qualified  to  judge  put  the  number  at  the 
enormous  figure  of  180  millions — a  notable  increase 

19 


20  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

since  Peter  "knocked  his  window  into  Europe!" 
As  the  numbers,  roughly  speaking,  double  them- 
selves every  fifty  years,  Russia  will  be  seen  to  have 
the  largest  rate  of  increase  in  the  Continent;  thus 
she  seems  to  be  able  to  neglect  losses  that  would 
spell  disaster,  if  not  decay,  for  less  favoured  lands. 
In  1892,  for  example,  during  the  great  famine, 
about  700,000  people  perished  from  hunger  and 
other  causes,  and  in  the  following  year  about  300,- 
000  were  carried  off  by  cholera ;  yet  these  losses  do 
not  seem  to  have  affected  her  in  the  slightest. 
Whilst  Germany  adds  to  her  population  at  the  rate 
of  I  million  souls  a  year,  Britain  at  the  rate  of 
350,000,  and  France  has  practically  no  increase 
worth  mentioning,  "Holy  Mother  Russia,"  thanks 
to  the  fertility  of  her  own  mothers,  has  an  annual 
growth  of  3  million — equal  to  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  Denmark.  In  another  half-century,  without 
counting  her  Slav  allies  in  the  south,  she  will  have 
360  millions  of  inhabitants,  at  the  lowest  estimate. 
It  is  apparent  that  whatever  happens,  she  is  able 
to  call  any  number  of  men  to  the  colours  to  con- 
tinue this  war  and  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end ;  where- 
as for  her  opponents,  Austria  and  Germany,  this 
is  absolutely  impossible,  for  reasons  which  do  not 
come  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work.  Even 
should  she  by  chance  be  defeated,  it  will  only  de- 


RUSSIA'S  STRENGTH  21 

lay  the  day  when  she  will  be  the  predominant  power 
in  Europe. 

Napoleon  foresaw  this,  and  his  prophecy  that 
Europe  in  a  hundred  years  would  be  Republican 
or  Cossack  would  have  come  true  had  not  the  Re- 
public in  France  been  overthrown  and  Russia  set 
back  a  hundred  years  or  more  by  three  great  wars 
— the  Crimean  campaign,  which  cost  her  100,000 
men;  the  Russo-Turkish  war,  in  which  she  lost 
172,000,  and  the  Japanese  struggle,  in  which  she 
is  supposed  to  have  lost  about  350,000.  In  men 
alone  she  has  been  obviously  badly  weakened,  apart 
from  the  millions  in  money  uselessly  expended  in 
these  more  or  less  unsuccessful  conflicts.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  almost  every  year  disastrous  famines 
and  epidemics  occur  in  some  portion  of  this  vast 
Empire,  to  carry  off  other  millions  in  a  less  public, 
but  not  less  dreadful,  manner. 

In  spite  of  such  drawbacks,  her  power  of  con- 
tinuing the  war  from  a  financial  point  of  view  is 
probably  greater  than  that  of  any  of  the  countries 
concerned.  With  a  revenue  of  at  least  £300,000,- 
000  a  year,  and  a  war  reserve  of  about  £165,000,- 
000,  she  would  be  able,  if  she  met  with  no  serious 
catastrophe,  to  carry  on  her  part  in  the  present 
struggle  for  at  least  two  or  three  years,  easily,  for 
there  are  several  sources  as  yet  untried  by  which 


22  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

the  necessary  funds  might  be  obtained.  In  addition 
to  the  huge  revenue,  and  great  natural  wealth  in 
cereals,  timber  and  minerals,  she  has  a  number  of 
enormously  rich  monasteries.  Some  of  these  pos- 
sess imtold  treasure  in  the  shape  of  gold,  silver  and 
jewels  which  have  not  yet  found  their  Henry  VIH 
to  despoil  them. 

Among  the  more  w^ealthy  religious  establishments 
I  may  mention  the  ^lonastery  of  the  Troitska,  near 
Moscow;  the  Pechersk  Monastery-  of  Kieff,  the 
Solovetsk  Monastery-  on  an  island  in  the  White 
Sea  and  the  Alexander  Nevsky  Monastery  at  St. 
Petersburg.  This  last  is  said  to  have  an  income  of 
£500,000  a  year.  It  is  so  noted,  in  fact,  that  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  the  Tsar  Nicholas  the  monks  lent 
considerable  sums  to  the  Crown  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  w-ar. 

In  the  event  of  necessity  these  establishments, 
and  many  more,  could  be  called  upon  to  contribute 
to  the  requirements  of  the  State;  naturally,  how- 
ever, this  measure  would  not  be  resorted  to  except 
as  a  last  hope. 

Russia  can  also  borrow  money  from  the  million- 
aires of  ]Moscow,  the  nobility,  the  rich  merchants 
and  land-owners.  During  the  last  thirty  years  she 
has  become  a  great  industrial  State,  with  a  home 
market  of  about  160  million  customers,  and  many 


RUSSIA'S  STRENGTH  23 

fortunes  have  been  made.  Owing  to  the  protective 
pohcy  of  the  Government,  Moscow,  Petersburg, 
Kieff,  Odessa,  Warsaw,  Lodz  and  other  large  cities 
and  towns  now  contain  many  wealthy  men,  w^hose 
assets  can  be  counted,  if  not  in  millions  of  pounds 
sterling  according  to  English  reckoning,  at  least  in 
millions  of  roubles.  In  a  prolonged  conflict  these 
princes  of  commerce  would  probably  be  obliged  to 
lend  or  to  give  up  a  part  of  their  accumulations  to 
the  State,  as  it  has  been  owing  to  State  bounties 
and  the  protection  of  industries  b}"  high  tariffs  that 
they  have  been  able  in  a  comparatively  short  time 
to  make  such  vast  fortunes.  The  very  fact  that 
the  people  of  Moscow  have  just  raised  £i,ooo,ocx> 
sterling,  in  a  week,  for  the  help  of  those  who  will 
suffer  from  the  eft'ects  of  this  war  is  eloquent  as  to 
the  generosit}"  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  wealth 
of  their  "\\^hite-walled  Moscow" — which  is  really 
the  heart  and  centre  of  the  Empire,  rather  than  St. 
Petersburg. 

The  State  Railways  form  another  immensely  val- 
I  uable  asset ;  in  case  of  need,  a  considerable  sum 
could  be  raised  on  this  security.  There  is  also  the 
spirit  monopoly,  which  brings  in  a  revenue  of  at 
least  90  millions  a  3^ear :  the  tobacco  monopoly,  too, 
is  owned  by  the  State  and  is  capable  of  great  ex- 
tension, for  tobacco  can  be  grown  in  large  quanti- 


24  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

ties  and  is  extremely  cheap.  Further  taxation  of  the 
people,  however,  would  be  a  dangerous  expedient, 
as  the  tax-paying  capacity  of  the  peasantry  has  been 
forced  to  its  highest  limit,  and  an  increase  of  the 
exactions  might  lead  to  a  revolution,  which  could 
be  more  disastrous  to  Russia  than  a  victory  of  the 
Germans. 

Internal  disorders,  in  fact,  might  prevent  Russia 
from  continuing  the  war  until  Germany  was  com- 
pletely exhausted.  At  present,  according  to  ad- 
vices I  have  received  from  St.  Petersburg,  the  inten- 
tion is  to  fight  until  the  overbearing  might  of  Prus- 
sia is  a  nightmare  of  the  past;  this  intention  the 
Russians  will  probably  carry  into  effect  unless  dis- 
sensions in  Finland,  Poland,  the  Baltic  Provinces, 
South  Russia  and  the  Caucasus  compel  a  peace  with 
the  enemy.  So  far,  there  are  few  signs  of  this  di- 
version of  energy. 

As  regards  her  food  supply,  there  is  probably 
more  than  sufficient  now  that  the  grain  exports 
via  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea  have  been  stopped. 
The  enormous  amount  of  cereals  that  Russia  an- 
nually exports  to  England,  Germany,  Holland  and 
the  Scandinavian  kingdoms  will  for  the  time  re- 
main in  the  country,  and — a  curious  paradox — the 
price  of  food  will  be  lower  in  war  time  than  in 
peaceful  years.    In  case  of  need,  quantities  of  grain, 


RUSSIA'S  STRENGTH  25 

cattle,  and  horses  can  be  obtained  from  Siberia,  a 
territory  which  under  proper  cultivation  could  sup- 
ply the  whole  of  Europe  with  food.  From  these 
comments  on  the  situation  it  will  be  easily  realised 
that  Russia,  as  regards  men,  money  and  natural  re- 
sources has  nothing  to  fear  from  a  continuation 
of  the  struggle  for  which  she  has  been  preparing 
for  many  years. 


THE  PEASANT— THE  BACKBONE  OF 
THE  ARMY 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PEASANT— THE  BACKBONE  OF 
THE  ARMY 

THE  Russian  Army  is  recruited  principally 
from  the  peasant  class  and  from  various 
nomadic  races  inhabiting  the  Eastern  provinces.  It 
is  estimated  that  in  all  there  are  about  120  million 
peasants  in  the  Russian  Empire,  and  probably  no 
body  of  men  in  existence  is  so  hardy  as  this,  upon 
which  the  future  of  the  country  largely  depends. 

Their  physique  is  very  fine  as  compared  with 
that  of  other  European  races;  they  are,  however, 
intensely  ignorant  and  superstitious,  and  too  fre- 
quently the  victims  of  terrible  famines.  In  most 
Russian  villages  there  are  no  doctors  or  trained 
nurses,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  death-rate 
is  appalling.  When  a  peasant  is  taken  ill,  only  two 
remedies  are  available  as  a  rule,  a  hot  bath,  and 
the  "Feldshar" — who  is  generally  an  old  soldier 
with  a  little  rudimentary  knowledge  of  surgery 
picked  up  when  on  military  service.  He  is,  in  fact, 
a  kind  of  rural  Dr.  Sangrado,  and  if  blood-letting 

29 


30  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

and  the  "banja"  (the  vapour  bath)  do  not  help, 
then  the  patient  must  die — for  "such  is  the  will  of 
God!"  Some  villages  have  the  questionable  ad- 
vantage of  a  "znarcharka"  or  wise  woman,  who 
firmly  believes  in  herbs,  drugs,  and  incantations. 
A  few  of  these  women  are  undoubtedly  very  skil- 
ful, but  I  have  reason  to  know  that  the  majority 
of  them  are  gross  charlatans,  who  kill  more  people 
than  they  cure. 

If  the  mortality  is  enormous,  however,  the  birth- 
rate is  astonishing.  The  "baba,"  the  simple  peasant 
woman,  glories  in  the  number  of  her  offspring;  if 
half  her  children  die,  she  consoles  herself  with  the 
saying,  "Bog  dal  ee  Bog  vzyal" — God  gave  and 
God  took.  But  God,  one  must  think,  has  little  to 
do  with  this  vast  mortality;  it  is  generally  the  re- 
sult of  ignorance,  impossible  sanitary  conditions, 
poor  food,  and  a  struggle  for  life  against  an  inhos- 
pitable climate  and  bad  soil. 

In  spite  of  these  adverse  conditions,  the  peasantry 
increase  at  such  a  rate  that  I  have  heard  officers 
boast  that  the  "baba"  would  conquer  the  Germans 
by  the  number  of  her  children,  without  counting 
the  men.  Every  woman  has  on  an  average  from 
six  to  twelve,  of  whom  about  half  survive.  Thanks 
to  her,  the  people  grow  at  the  rate  of  3  millions  a 
year;  the  Germans  increase  only  at  the  rate  of  a 


THE  PEASANT  31 

million.  From  this  hardy  stock  the  Russian  Tommy- 
Atkins  is  chiefly  supplied.  Of  course  the  Little 
Russians,  Tartars,  Finns,  Lithuanians,  Tchoovash, 
Khirgise,  Esths,  Poles,  and  Circassians  send  a  large 
contingent,  but  the  bulk  and  backbone  of  Russia's 
grey-coated  millions  come  from  the  Krestjane,  or 
peasant  classes.  The  ordinary  peasant,  the  man 
who  has  built  up  the  Russian  Empire  with  his  blood 
and  his  toil,  is  not  a  big  man ;  he  is  of  medium  stat- 
ure, broad-shouldered  and  sturdy,  with  square 
forehead,  square  jaw,  regular  Arian  features,  and 
a  flowing  beard,  unless  he  comes  of  Tartar  or  Fin- 
nish extraction.  In  short,  the  pure  Russian  is  an 
Arian  like  ourselves,  with  a  considerable  admix- 
ture of  Scandinavian  blood  in  his  veins — especially 
in  the  Northern  Governments,  where  the  finest  Rus 
or  Russian  types  are   found. 

The  South  Russian,  of  the  beautiful,  fertile  land 
of  the  Ukraine,  is  usually  tall  and  muscular,  but 
he  has  not  the  energy,  tenacity,  or  endurance  of  the 
Great  Russian  from  the  North. 

The  Tartars  also  make  good  soldiers,  and  as  a 
rule  are  extremely  hardy,  temperate  and  trust- 
worthy— so  reliable,  in  fact,  that  often  the  most 
important  posts  are  entrusted  to  their  care.  Not 
having  the  weakness  for  vodka  common  to  the 
Russian  soldier,  the  Tartar  can  be  depended  upon  in 


32  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

a  crisis  to  keep  perfectly  sober.  He  is,  however,  be- 
lieved to  be  more  cruel,  probably  owing  to  his  Mon- 
golian strain,  which  makes  him,  when  roused,  cal- 
lous to  human  suffering  and  reckless  of  human  life. 

The  typical  pure  Russian  is  a  big-hearted  man. 
Unlike  the  Tartars,  Finns  and  other  Mongolians, 
he  is  not  spiteful.  When  injured  he  seldom  en- 
deavours to  be  revenged  on  his  enemy,  like  the 
Tartars,  Bashkirs,  Khirgise  and  other  Turanian 
races.  If  he  is  a  true  and  typical  son  of  Russia  he 
endeavours  to  forget  the  injury,  and  relieves  his 
feelings  by  spitting,  swearing,  or  simply  by  saying, 
"Bog  S'vam"  (the  Lord  be  with  thee),  meaning 
that  he  leaves  it  to  God  to  settle  the  account. 

As  a  rule  the  Russian  conscript  carries  with  him 
into  the  Army  many  of  the  best  as  well  as  the 
worst  qualities;  he  remains  careless,  procrastinat- 
ing, happy-go-lucky,  slavish,  superstitious  and  gen- 
erally exceedingly  ignorant.  In  fact,  the  majority 
of  the  recruits — about  70  per  cent — cannot  read 
or  write  when  they  enter  the  Tsar's  service.  It 
then  devolves  upon  the  officers  to  "lick  these  shock- 
headed  peasants  into  shape"  and  to  convert  them 
into  smart  soldiers — a  long  and  painful  process. 
But  if  the  officers  have  patience,  the  finished  ma- 
terial is  excellent.  The  practice  of  keeping  the  peo- 
ple in  ignorance,  for  state  reasons,  makes  it  easier 


THE  PEASANT  33 

to  govern  these  teeming  millions  in  peace ;  but  when 
war  breaks  out  and  the  Government  requires  well 
instructed  men  to  defend  the  country  and  carry- 
out  orders  intelligently,  the  short-sightedness  of  this 
policy  immediately  makes  itself  evident.  This  fact 
is  so  patent  that  we  may  safely  say,  should  the 
Germans  be  victorious  in  this  war,  that  it  will  mainly 
be  owing  to  the  illiteracy  of  the  Russian  soldier 
and  the  want  of  thoroughness  in  the  training  of 
the  officers.  Physically  and  mentally  the  soldiers 
and  officers  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  Ger- 
mans, and  are  brave  to  foolhardiness.  But  their 
want  of  training  and  education  will  be  found,  time 
after  time,  to  place  them  at  a  great  disadvantage 
with  their  more  instructed  Teutonic  opponents,  who 
are  not  only  painfully  accurate,  but  as  a  rule  ex- 
tremely well  educated.  The  very  fact  that  they 
dare  to  measure  their  strength — though  far  inferior 
in  numbers  and  resources — with  the  allied  might 
of  Russia,  France,  England,  Belgium  and  Servia 
shows  that  they  regard  their  superior  education, 
compared  with  the  Russian,  as  a  grea^  and  valuable 
asset. 

Yet,  if  the  average  Russian  soldier  is  not  equal 
to  the  Teuton  in  this  respect,  he  has  qualities  which 
have  many  times  placed  him  on  a  pedestal  and 
helped  to  build  up  the  great  Empire.     At  Eylau, 


34  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

his  stubbornness  and  contempt  of  death  evoked  the 
admiration  of  Napoleon,  who,  on  seeing  how  the 
Russians  stood  their  ground,  exclaimed :  "One  has 
not  only  to  kill  them,  but  knock  them  over."  At 
Borodino,  Sevastopol,  Port  Arthur  and  many  other 
terrible  scenes  of  slaughter,  we  have  all  seen  what 
the  simple  grey-coated  soldier  is  capable  of  when 
called  upon.  When  led  by  one  in  whom  he  has 
confidence,  no  hardship,  privation,  or  act  of  hero- 
ism seems  too  much  for  him,  especially  if  he  is  in 
sympathy  with  the  cause  for  which  he  is  fighting. 
Under  Souvoroff  and  Koutesoff  the  Russian  sol- 
dier withstood  the  best  troops  of  Napoleon,  and 
frequently  defeated  them;  under  Radetsky,  Skobe- 
loff  and  Linevitch  he  has  shown  equal  bravery.  The 
finest  soldiers  in  the  Army  are,  without  question, 
the  Guards,  who  are  usually  stationed  in  and  around 
St.  Petersburg.  This  splendid  body  of  men,  usually 
numbering  200,000,  is  not  only  better  paid  and 
better  fed  than  the  ordinary  troops  of  the  line,  but 
also  better  trained  and  educated.  In  times  of 
crisis,  during  revolutions,  or  when  prospects  of  vic- 
tory abroad  have  been  at  their  lowest  ebb,  it  has 
been  the  Guards  who,  time  after  time,  have  saved 
the  dynasty  and  secured  victory.  Should  the  tide 
of  war  go  against  the  Russians,  it  will  probably  be 
the  Guards  who  again  restore  success. 


THE  PEASANT  35 

Although  the  soldier  is  so  formidable  and  self- 
sacrificing  in  war,  in  time  of  peace  he  is,  in  many 
ways,  a  veritable  child.  In  the  barracks  he  learns 
to  read  and  write,  and  frequently  practises  some 
handicraft  which  serves  him  in  good  stead  when 
he  returns  to  his  native  village — no  more  a  rough 
and  ignorant  country  bumpkin,  but  in  some  respects 
a  "man  of  the  world."  He  also  learns  to  drink 
vodka  and  to  swear  like  a  trooper — two  accom- 
plishments which  might  very  well  be  dispensed 
with.  In  one  of  Tolstoi's  plays,  "The  Fruits  of 
Culture,"  we  have  a  typical  specimen  of  one  of  these 
old  soldiers,  who  has  certainly  learned  more  evil 
than  good  during  his  term  of  service.  But  if  some 
of  the  weak  ones  go  under,  there  are  many  who 
benefit  by  military  training  and  return  to  their  vil- 
lages, men  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

Such  a  type  I  met  a  few  years  ago  at  Kostroma 
— a  man  who  had  been  all  through  the  campaign 
with  Koorapatkine.  A  more  manly,  modest  sol- 
dier I  have  never  seen  in  any  country.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  he  had  gone  through  the 
most  terrible  experiences,  and  had  faced  death  a 
hundred  times,  he  was  as  simple  in  his  demeanour 
as  a  child. 

If  army  service  does  not  improve  the  con- 
scripts' morals,  it  certainly  improves  their  wits.     In 


36  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

the  first  years  of  service  they  are  simply  an  un- 
reasoning machine,  never  thinking,  but  obeying 
every  order  without  judgment.  If  asked  a  question, 
the  conscript  does  not  reply  *T  do  not  know,"  but 
"I  cannot  know."  If  questioned  as  to  his  rea- 
son for  doing  a  certain  thing,  he  does  not  dare  to 
state  his  reason,  but  simply  replies  "Prekazano" 
(it  is  ordered).  This  slavish  and  unthinking  obe- 
dience to  orders  often  leads  to  very  serious  mis- 
takes, and  still  more  frequently  to  very  comical  in- 
cidents. The  anecdote  of  Catherine  giving  an  order 
to  a  soldier  to  have  her  dog,  Cumberland,  stuffed, 
and  the  soldier  almost  carrying  out  the  order  on  the 
person  of  the  English  Ambassador,  after  whom  the 
animal  had  been  named,  is  only  one  instance  of 
what  implicit  obedience,  without  thought,  may  lead 
to.  But  this  quality  is  best  illustrated  in  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote  of  an  incident  which  is  said  to  have 
actually  occurred  in  a  Russian  garrison  town. 
An  officer  asked  a  recruit: — 

"Now  what  should  you  do  in  the  event  of  dis- 
turbances breaking  out  in  this  town  if  you  were 
ordered  out  on  duty?" 

"Shoot,"  was  the  answer. 

"Very  good!  But  supposing  your  father  and 
jnother  happened  to  be  among  the  crowd  ?" 


THE  PEASANT  37 

"Shoot  them  all  down." 

"Splendid!  But  tell  me  now,  if  you  were  in 
the  open  field — in  camp,  for  example — and  should 
come  across  a  cow  or  a  calf,  what  should  you 
do?" 

"Shoot  them  down,  your  Highness,"  Ivan  re- 
plied, with  great  gusto. 

"Nonsense!  You  should  take  them  by  the 
horns  and  lead  them  to  the  'Generalska'  "  (the 
wife  of  the  General). 

Here  followed  a  momentary  pause,  and  then  the 
officer  continued : — 

"But  if  at  night  time  you  met  His  Excellency 
the  General  himself,  a  long  way  from  the  camp 
in  the  dark,  what  would  you  do?" 

"Shoot  him  down." 

"Nonsense !" 

Ivan  thought  deeply  for  a  moment,  and  then  re- 
plied triumphantly: — 

"Well,  if  I  should  not  be  allowed  to  shoot  him 
down,  then  I  ought  to  take  him  by  the  horns  and 
lead  him  to  the  'Generalska.'  " 

This  anecdote  may  appear  far-fetched,  but  while 
I  was  staying  at  the  Russian  camp  of  Tsarkoe- 
Seloe,  incidents  occurred  even  more  incredible. 


IVAN:  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS 


CHAPTER   IV 
IVAN:  THE   RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS 

AS  regards  physique,  the  Russian  soldier  on  the 
whole  is  very  fine  indeed.  I  should  say  that 
on  the  average  he  is  not  so  tall  as  the  English 
soldier,  but  is  larger-boned  and  broader-chested. 
Although  he  is  hardier  than  the  average  Britisher, 
he  is  physically  not  so  strong,  energetic  or  active, 
mainly  owing  to  the  wretched  quality  of  the  food 
supplied  him.  Officially,  Ivan  Ivanovitch  is  sup- 
posed to  get  more  than  most  other  nations,  but  in 
practice  this  does  not  work  out. 

The  standard  in  Russia,  as  regards  height  for 
military  service,  is  very  low  compared  with  our 
own.  It  begins  at  five  feet  for  infantry  and  five 
feet  three  inches  for  cavalry.  This  is  surprising, 
for  very  many  tall  men  are  to  be  found  in  Russia, 
especially  among  the  Lithuanians,  the  Little  Rus- 
sians, the  Cossacks,  the  Siberians  and  the  Tartars, 
many  of  whom  are  over  six  feet.  But  the  typical 
Russian,  the  backbone  of  the  army,  as  I  have  before 
observed,  is  not  a  tall  man;  he  is  of  medium  size, 

41 


42  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

fleshy  and  thickly  built.  When  pure  and  unmixed 
with  Tartar  blood,  he  is  not  unlike  many  of  the  men 
I  have  seen  in  the  north  and  east  of  England.  In 
some  of  the  northern  governments  and  in  the  Baltic 
provinces,  where  there  is  a  strong  infusion  of  Scan- 
dinavian blood,  the  resemblance  to  the  fair,  ruddy 
Englishman  of  the  east  coast  is  still  more  striking. 
The  conquest  of  the  people  in  the  Middle  Ages  by 
the  savage  Tartars  and  Mongols  from  Asia  has, 
however,  modified  the  appearance  as  well  as  the 
character  of  a  large  section  of  the  population. 
Physical  deterioration  is  particularly  observable  in 
the  great  manufacturing  centres,  where  men,  liable 
to  serve,  are  frequently  rejected.  In  the  country 
districts  the  proportion  of  men  rejected  by  the  mili- 
tary doctors  is,  comparatively  speaking,  very  small. 
Other  causes  of  deterioration  are  the  dreadful  fam- 
ines and  epidemics.  The  absence  of  doctors  and  the 
consequent  spread  of  disease  has  much  to  do  with 
the  impaired  physique  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
people.  The  immoderate  use  of  vodka,  a  spirit  dis- 
tilled from  rye,  is  one  cause  of  the  sickness,  poverty 
and  physical  and  moral  retrogression  among  the 
peasantry  and  the  soldiers  of  all  classes.  On  the 
whole,  however,  the  Russians  are  a  strong  and  hardy 
people,  mainly  because  the  conditions  of  life  are  so 
severe. 


IVAN:  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS     43 

As  the  majority  of  the  peasants  are  practically 
vegetarians  it  is  not  an  expensive  business  to  feed 
the  Russian  army.  The  soldiers'  diet  mostly  consists 
of  cabbage  soup,  porridge,  potatoes,  peas,  beans, 
good  wholesome  rye  bread,  macaroni,  garlic,  fish, 
lard  and  various  dainties  cooked  in  sunflower  seed 
oil.  On  feast  days  and  holidays  they  are  plentifully 
supplied  with  vodka,  usually  at  the  officers'  expense ; 
for  like  their  men  the  Russian  officers  are  fond  of 
liquor  and  extremely  hospitable.  As  a  rule  the  men 
only  have  half  a  pound  of  meat  a  day  and  about 
three  pounds  of  black  bread,  which  is  almost  as 
nourishing  as  meat,  and,  I  believe,  far  more  whole- 
some. Moreover,  it  has  been  observed  that  men  who 
are  moderate  consumers  of  meat  and  vodka  recover 
from  their  wounds  sooner  than  those  who  eat  much 
flesh.  One  of  the  great  faults  of  the  Russian  army 
is  its  poorly  managed  commissariat,  which  during 
the  Turkish  and  Russo-Japanese  wars  caused  the 
loss  of  many  thousands  of  men.  Soldiers  who  re- 
turned from  this  war  state  that  they  had  to  subsist 
on  maggoty  biscuits  and  beans,  whilst  thousands  of 
horses  died  for  want  of  provender.  After  the  war 
was  over  there  was  a  good  deal  of  hanging  of  un- 
fortunate Jewish  contractors,  but  the  greater  cul- 
prits were  allowed  to  go  free.  So  long  as  the  Rus- 
sian Government  persists  in  the  questionable  prac- 


44  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

tice  of  paying  its  officials  and  public  servants  about 
half  the  wages  due  to  them  this  evil  will  never  be 
eradicated.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  every  year 
as  the  people  become  more  enlightened  the  taking  of 
bribes  is  becoming  more  rare. 

The  pay  of  officers  usually  averages  from  £3  to 
£10  a  month,  according  to  the  standing  of  the  regi- 
ment. The  salary  of  a  general  is  not  extravagant, 
and  varies  from  £300  to  £500  a  year.  In  order  to 
lessen  the  expenditure  incurred  in  keeping  up  their 
households  every  officer  is  permitted  to  keep  one  or 
more  djenshiks.  (A  djenshik  is  a  soldier  who 
serves  his  superior  officer,  without  pay,  in  return  for 
his  board  and  lodging.)  The  majority  of  Russian 
officers  are  very  generous  to  their  servants,  generally 
giving  them  pocket  money  and  presents.  As  a  rule 
the  men  prefer  to  serve  their  officers,  particularly 
when  the  latter  are  popular.  It  relieves  them  from 
the  trying  and  monotonous  duty  of  living  in  bar- 
racks and  eating  soldiers'  fare,  which  although 
plentiful  and  nourishing  is  very  rough  and  simple. 

Under  the  influence  of  his  superior  officer,  the 
djenshik  often  becomes  more  refined  than  his  com- 
panions, and  acquires  a  taste  for  reading  and  the 
pleasures  of  life.  In  his  dress  and  habits  he  be- 
comes clean  and  neat,  and  gains  some  knowledge 
of  town  life  and  foreign  countries  which  he  relates 


IVAN :  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS     45 

to  an  astonished  village  on  his  return.  As  a  rule 
the  relations  between  officers  and  their  subordinates 
are  quite  paternal ;  and  an  officer  when  addressing 
a  soldier  calls  him  "little  brother,"  "friend,"  "little 
pigeon,"  and  the  soldier  in  return  calls  his  com- 
manding officer  "little  father"  or  "brother." 

Russian  officers  of  all  ranks  are  far  more  sociable 
and  less  reserved  than  those  of  other  nations.  In 
fact  I  have  frequently  seen  a  simple  soldier  approach 
a  Colonel  or  General  and  ask  him  for  a  light  or  some 
small  favour  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  soldiers 
have  even  nicknames  for  their  favourite  officers, 
whom  they  regard  as  friends,  advisers  and  in  loco 
parentis. 

An  officer  is  supposed  to  know  everybody  and 
to  be  a  kind  of  walking  encyclopaedia  or  "Enquire 
Within"  for  everything,  very  similar  to  our  old 
country  parsons.  If  a  soldier's  wife  has  twins,  if 
the  mare  has  foaled,  or  if  the  children  have  the 
measles  the  officer  is  consulted  in  all  seriousness 
and  his  advice  is  taken,  although  he  may  be  as 
ignorant  as  the  soldier  who  consults  him  regarding 
the  happy  or  unfortunate  occurrence.  Officers  fre- 
quently laugh  and  joke  with  their  men  and  call 
them  molodzie  (bucks)  and  tovoratza  (comrades). 
The  simple  Russian  private  would  never  dream  of 
taking  a  liberty  or  being  unduly  familiar  in  return 


46  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

for  this  friendliness;  for  an  officer  is  always  an 
officer  in  the  eyes  of  the  soldier;  also  a  barin  (gen- 
tleman), whether  familiar,  intoxicated  or  sober. 
/The  officer  is  ohrasovanne  (educated),  a  man  of 
culture,  while  the  private  himself  is  negramotne 
(not  educated,  ignorant  of  the  art  of  reading  and 
writing).  In  the  Russian  army  and  also  in  the 
Russian  classes  generally  all  men  are  brothers  in  a 
different  way  from  that  in  which  any  other  country 
regards  its  people.  When  duty  and  work  are  over 
social  and  class  distinctions  are  allowed  to  sink 
into  the  background  for  the  time  being. 

These  peculiar  patriarchal  relations  between  of- 
ficers and  men  are  admirably  exemplified  by 
the  following  incident  which  was  related  to  me 
during  the  siege  of  Plevna  when  I  happened  to 
be  in  Russia.  After  losing  at  the  rate  of  16,000 
men  a  day  in  storming  the  almost  impregnable  posi- 
tion of  the  Turks,  some  of  the  soldiers  of  the  guards 
began  to  be  slack  in  advancing  to  the  attack,  which 
meant  certain  death  to  other  thousands.  An  officer 
of  the  guards  observing  this  hesitation  among  his 
men,  galloped  up  to  his  regiment,  and  thus  ad- 
dressed them:  "Shame  on  you,  lads.  What  have 
you  to  lose  in  comparison  with  me?  You  will  lose 
your  black  bread,  cabbage  and  chlopee  (bugs), 
whereas  I  have  a  beautiful  wife,  children,  money, 


IVAN :  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS     47 

houses  and  a  palace.  Then  follow  me,  lads,  do  not 
fear  the  Turks."  This  rough  exhortation  pleased 
the  soldiers;  again  they  rushed  to  the  attack  with 
their  brave  officer  and  did  not  stop  until  they  had 
taken  the  redoubts. 

The  majority  of  the  soldiers  are  unmarried,  as 
early  marriages  are  not  encouraged  by  the  authori- 
ties. During  the  term  of  service  the  soldier  has  to 
take  his  place  in  the  line.  But  the  paterfamilias, 
the  head  of  every  peasant  household,  frequently 
compels  his  young  sons  to  marry  the  strongest  and 
most  buxom  village  lasses  he  can  find ;  for  strength 
and  a  capacity  for  hard  work  are  the  qualities 
chiefly  sought  by  the  father  in  choosing  a  helpmate 
for  his  sons.  The  latter  are  not  consulted  in  the 
least;  young  men  are  not  considered  capable  of 
selecting  a  suitable  wife.  During  the  son's  absence, 
the  "soldatka"' — the  soldier's  wife — often  has  a 
very  hard  time  of  it  with  her  father-in-law.  And 
there  is  another  point :  as  the  Russian  peasant- 
woman  is  amative  and  not  over-chaste,  it  not  infre- 
quently happens  that  there  is  an  addition  to  the  fam- 
ily during  the  husband's  term  of  service.  If  the 
little  stranger  is  a  boy,  all  goes  well;  it  does  not 
matter;  for  the  more  boys  there  are  the  more  land 
there  will  be  for  each  household  when  the  com- 
munal property  is  redistributed.     But  if  the  new 


48  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

arrival  is  a  girl,  there  is  trouble,  for  girls  are  not 
wanted.  The  land  is  distributed  according  to  the 
number  of  souls,  and  as  women  are  supposed  to 
have  only  "vapour"  (par)  and  not  a  soul,  and 
can  neither  do  a  man's  work  in  the  fields  nor  serve 
in  the  army,  no  share  is  allotted  to  them.  Gener- 
ally, however,  the  husband  is  forgiving  and  good- 
natured,  and  makes  every  allowance  for  the  frailty 
of  his  women-folk,  saying  in  effect,  "Why  should 
I  be  so  hard  on  a  weak  woman?" 

The  Cossacks,  who  have  Tartar,  Turk,  and  Gothic 
blood  in  their  veins,  are  not  so  easy-going,  if  I  can 
credit  some  anecdotes  I  heard  concerning  their  treat- 
ment of  women  after  the  last  Turkish  war.  The 
Russian  soldier  is  simply  a  "child  of  nature,"  as  a 
Russian  General  of  my  acquaintance  remarked.  He 
is  easily  amused,  and  easily  satisfied,  for  his  wants 
have  been  reduced  to  the  minimum.  Give  him  a  few 
ounces  of  "machorka" — a  coarse  black  tobacco 
grown  in  Little  Russia — a  concertina,  an  old  news- 
paper to  use  as  cigarette-paper,  and  he  is  as  happy 
as  a  king.  If  you  can  add  to  these  luxuries  a  small 
bottle  of  vodka  (a  "Witotchka,"  so  named  jokingly 
after  the  Minister  of  Finance  who  first  ordered  vodka 
to  be  sold  in  these  small  bottles),  costing  fivepence, 
he  is  then  supremely  favoured.  Inspired  by  the 
fiery  spirit,  his  own  spirits  rise  in  proportion,  and 


IVAN :  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS    49 

he  shows  his  overpowering  delight  in  dancing  fast 
and  furiously,  certainly  with  more  ability  than 
grace,  the  "Kamarinska"  or  some  other  favourite 
measure.  He  is  passionately  fond  of  singing,  and 
spends  long  hours  alone  composing  and  improvising 
plaintive  songs  in  praise  of  his  sweetheart,  his  vil- 
lage, his  horse,  or  even  his  favourite  general  if  he 
has  one.  Wherever  I  have  wandered  through  the 
Russian  Empire  I  have  met  the  sturdy,  grey-coated 
fellows  marching  and  singing — in  the  steep  rocky 
defiles  of  the  Caucasus,  on  the  long  steppes  of  Little 
Russia,  on  the  banks  of  the  Volga,  in  the  camp  at 
Krasno  Selo,  Finland,  or  in  barracks  at  Cronstadt 
or  Petersburg.  Singing  in  the  ranks  is  held  to  be 
of  great  importance,  and  is  encouraged  by  the 
officers. 

The  chief  singer,  who  marches  in  front  of  each 
company  and  gives  the  opening  lines  of  the  verses, 
receives  extra  pay  and  many  marks  of  favour.  Gen- 
eral Annenkoff  once  said  to  me,  "The  soldier  who 
sings  marches  on  to  victory."  Some  of  the  melo- 
dies are  sad,  of  others  the  words  are  "risky";  but 
many,  especially  among  the  Cossacks,  are  full  of  life 
and  vigour.  Without  vodka,  music,  song  and  dance, 
and  frequent  "prasniks"  (holidays),  the  existence 
of  a  soldier  would  be  unbearable;  for  what  with 
hard  toil,  constant  drill,  poor  pay  and  not  over- 


so  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

pleasant  food  he  has  usually  not  a  good  time  of  it 
in  barracks,  unless  he  can  get  private  work. 

When  well  treated,  the  men  are  exceedingly  at- 
tached to  their  officers,  and  no  sacrifice  is  too  great 
for  them.  They  set  little  value  on  their  own  lives 
or  on  anybody  else's  when  it  is  a  question  of  duty 
or  of  fighting.  "Shezn  Copjeka" — "Life  is  a  farth- 
ing," is  one  of  their  favourite  proverbs.  Their  re- 
ligious character  is  seen  in  conflict,  for  they  look  on 
a  battle  not  as  a  sanguinary  fight,  but  as  the  defence 
of  their  faith,  Tsar,  and  country.  In  the  brave 
struggle  of  the  "Varjag"  against  unequal  odds  at 
Chemulpoo  the  Russian  sailors,  according  to  the  evi- 
dence of  their  confessor,  all  through  that  terrible 
encounter,  whilst  working  the  guns,  continually 
prayed  to  their  Saviour  and  all  the  Saints,  believing 
that  aid  would  thus  come  to  them  against  the  unbe- 
lieving Japanese. 

The  average  Russian,  even  of  the  lower  classes, 
is  extremely  fond  of  his  native  country  {matooshka 
Rossi j a) — our  little  Mother  Russia — as  he  calls 
her,  although  she  is  frequently  a  very  severe  parent 
to  him.  He  despises  and  pities  the  Njemtsee  (the 
Dumbones),  a  term  by  which  he  implies  all  foreign- 
ers who  cannot  speak  his  difficult  tongue.  "What 
is  life  to  a  Russian  is  death  to  a  foreigner"  is  a 
saying  continually  on  his  lips,  and  rightly  too;  for, 


IVAN :  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS     5 1 

without  complaint,  he  can  stand  greater  cold,  more 
intense  heat,  keener  hunger  and  privation  than  any 
other  European.  His  powers  of  endurance  are 
marvellous;  I  have  often  seen  Ivan  asleep  in  the 
snow  in  winter-time  or  stretched  out  snoring  on  the 
wet  and  sodden  grass  in  the  autumn.  These  expe- 
riences seem  to  do  him  no  harm  whatever.  Every 
Saturday  he  goes  regularly  to  the  banja  and  there 
scrubs  and  boils  himself  until  he  is  as  red  as  a  lob- 
ster and  every  trace  of  cold  has  been  driven  out  of 
his  system.  The  heat  in  these  banjas  is  terrific,  and 
woe  to  the  Njemtzee,  or  foreigner,  who  tries  them 
if  he  has  not  been  gifted  with  a  strong  heart  and  a 
tough  skin. 

In  the  country  districts,  where  the  people  are 
veritable  "Adam's  children,"  as  a  Russian  officer 
described  them,  it  is  their  great  pleasure  to  heat  the 
banja  like  a  furnace  and  then  rush  out  in  a  nude 
condition,  rolling  themselves  in  the  rough  snow, 
even  when  the  temperature  is  fifteen  to  twenty 
degrees  below  zero.  When  there  is  no  snow 
handy,  they  break  a  hole  in  the  ice  of  the 
nearest  river,  which  is  frequently  two  or  three  feet 
thick,  and  have  a  dip.  They  then  hurry  back  to  the 
warm  and  comfortable  banja  to  restore  their  circu- 
lation. 

Truly  what  is  life  to  a  Russian  is  death  to  a 


52  THE    RUSSIAN    ARMY 

foreigner,  and  the  ordinary  conditions  of  service 
in  time  of  war,  except  the  actual  fighting,  are  really 
not  more  arduous  than  the  ordinary  life  of  the  Rus- 
sian in  his  home. 

Although  the  relations  between  officers  and  men 
are  exceedingly  democratic,  discipline  is  most 
severe;  grave  infringement  of  the  vocnoi  oostav 
(military  code)  is  visited  with  death.  But,  as  I 
have  said  before,  human  life  is  valued  lightly  in 
this  country,  especially  among  the  peasantry,  and 
execution  does  not  appear  so  horrible  and  cruel  to 
them  as  it  would  to  us. 

When  one  calls  to  mind  the  extreme  severity  of 
the  military  code  under  Nicholas  I,  Peter  the  Great 
and  Catherine  II,  the  stringent  regulations  now  in 
force  in  the  Russian  Army  appear  quite  mild  com- 
pared with  those  in  the  "good  old  times"  about 
which  people  are  so  fond  of  prating.  Beating  or 
cuffing  the  soldiers  is  strictly  forbidden,  although 
this  regulation  is  sometimes  overlooked  by  the 
sergeants. 

When  we  take  into  consideration  the  inexhaustible 
resources  in  men,  money  and  material  which  are  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Russian  Government  it  is  diffi- 
cult not  to  believe  that  Russia  will  emerge  victorious 
from  this  terrible  racial  and  political  struggle  against 
the  combined  forces  of  Austria  and  Germany,  pro- 


IVAN :  THE  RUSSIAN  TOMMY  ATKINS     53 

vided  that  her  officers  and  generals  are  on  a  line 
with  her  brave  and  hardy  soldiers,  and  that  the 
alien  races  subject  to  her  sway  remain  loyal  during 
the  war. 


UNIFORM,  ARMS,  AND  ARTILLERY 


CHAPTER   V 
UNIFORM,   ARMS,    AND    ARTILLERY 

THE  uniform  of  the  majority  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  line  is  simple  in  the  extreme.  It  has, 
however,  been  found  so  practical  that  many  of  our 
own  troops  are  equipped  with  an  outfit  which  is 
strikingly  like  that  worn  by  the  Russian  infantry; 
the  cap  is  the  same  in  shape,  and  there  is  a  strange 
resemblance  between  the  grey  overcoats  worn  by 
the  soldiers  of  both  nations.  The  uniform  is  warm, 
strong,  and  exceedingly  cheap.  All  unnecessary 
ornament  is  dispensed  with.  The  rough  grey  coats 
and  the  strong,  waterproof  topboots,  the  latter  fre- 
quently made  by  the  soldiers  themselves,  give  the 
men  a  very  attractive  and  business-like  appearance. 
In  the  summer  the  men  wear  clean,  white  linen 
blouses  which  are  not  only  cheap  but  very  service- 
able. 

The  infantry  are  armed  with  what  they  call  a 
"3  line"  rifle,  which  I  believe  is  a  modification  of 
the  Krag  Jorgan  weapon,  dating  from  1891.  It  is 
sighted  to  3000  paces,  but  I  am  informed  that  it 

>   uiife   u-iiifc    .~_^pra«-h —   5/ 

l.Q>lmrr\.   r  .30   Ca\   ov-    3  "lihcb" 


58  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

will  kill  at  a  distance  of  two  miles.  This  weapon 
is  simple  in  construction  and  exceedingly  accurate.^ 
A  Russian  officer  told  me  that  it  has  such  penetrat- 
ing power  that  he  has  known  a  bullet  fired  from 
it  to  pass  through  a  thick  tree  and  kill  a  fowl 
on  the  other  side.  The  army  rifle  holds  five  cart- 
ridges, which  can  be  fired  singly  or  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. During  the  last  Japanese  War  a  consider- 
able portion  of  the  forces  were  armed  with  Q.F. 
Field  Guns  (1902  model),  which  fired  a  13^  lb. 
shell  with  a  muzzle  velocity  of  1950  feet  a  second. 
Owing  to  the  defects  of  the  artillery  in  the  Japanese 
War  Russia  sustained  very  severe  losses.     When  I 

^  The  new  warfare  is  with  rifles  with  twice  as  much 
muzzle  velocity,  and  the  bullets,  hardly  thicker  than  a 
lead  pencil,  are  jacketed  with  steel  or  nickel.  A  man 
might  be  shot  clean  through  the  abdomen  and  walk  to 
the  hospital  in  the  rear  of  the  battlefield.  Such  cases  are 
on  record.  At  the  range  of  action  under  modern  condi- 
tions the  bullets  from  high-powered  rifles  make  a  clean- 
cut  wound,  frequently  passing  through  bone  without 
splintering  and  pushing  aside  arteries  without  cutting 
them. 

Great  Britain  uses  the  Lee-Enfield  rifle,  caliber  j.y  mm., 
the  bullet  coated  with  cupro-nickel.  French  soldiers  are 
equipped  with  the  Lebel  rifle,  caliber  8  mm.,  with  bullets 
coated  with  nickel.  Germany  employs  the  Mauser  rifle, 
caliber  8  mm.,  with  bullets  steel  and  copper  coated. 
Russia  uses  Mossin-Nagant  rifles,  caliber  7.62  mm.,  with 
bullets  cupro-nickel  coated.  Austria's  small  arm  is  the 
Mannlicher,  caliber  8  mm.,  with  a  steel  sheet  coat  over 
the  bullet. 


UNIFORM,  ARMS,  AND  ARTILLERY      59 

was  last  at  Krasno  Selo,  only  a  few  batteries  of  the 
new  15-poimder  quick-firers  (Schneider-Creuzot) 
had  arrived  from  France,  and  the  army  was  using 
the  old  Krupp  guns.  The  men  had,  in  fact,  hardly 
had  time  to  become  proficient  with  the  new  weapon 
when  the  war  broke  out,  which  partly  explains  the 
terrible  losses  among  the  artillery  at  the  Yalu  and 
in  other  battles,  where  the  Russian  guns  were  com- 
pletely demolished  by  the  terrible  fire  of  the  Japa- 
nese. Since  then  the  Army  has  been  supplied  with 
modern  quick-firing  guns  constructed  according  to 
the  latest  French  models.  This  should  put  them 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Germans.  Many  of 
their  regiments  have  also  been  supplied  with  a  new 
rifle.  This  is  also  believed  to  be  equal  in  every 
way  to  that  of  the  Germans. 

The  rifle,  however,  is  not  the  favourite  weapon 
of  the  Russian  soldier;  he  still  pins  his  faith  to  the 
bayonet,  therefore  getting  at  close  quarters  with  his 
opponent  whenever  possible.  Being  heavy  and  mus- 
cular in  build,  and  almost  without  nerves,  he  can 
use  this  weapon  with  shocking  effect.  During  the 
storming  of  Port  Arthur  the  brave  Japanese  were 
driven  back  time  after  time  at  the  point  of  the  bayo- 
net. It  is  said  that  they  lost  about  80,000  men  in 
endeavouring  to  take  this  fortress.  According  to 
the  Army  reports  80  per  cent  of  the  Japanese  casu- 


6o  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

alties  were  caused  by  the  bayonet  charges;  20  per 
cent  by  shot  and  shell.  Even  in  the  days  of  Souvo- 
roff,  Catherine's  great  general,  the  soldiers  fre- 
quently forgot  to  use  their  rifles  in  their  anxiety  to 
come  to  close  quarters  with  the  enemy.  Souvoroff 
himself  believed  in  the  bayonet  above  any  other 
weapon,  and  used  to  say  to  his  men :  "Pulja  doorak 
no  shtyck  molodets"  (the  bullet  is  a  fool,  but  the 
bayonet  is  a  brick). 

So  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  the  Russians,  both 
officers  and  men,  are  not  at  all  efficient  with  the 
sword,  that  most  ancient  but  very  effective  weapon. 
Perhaps  the  majority  of  them  are  too  heavy,  short, 
and  lethargic  to  become  good  swordsmen.  The 
Cossacks,  however,  are  very  expert  with  the  sword, 
and  so  are  the  Poles,  who  have  a  more  lively  tem- 
perament than  the  average  Great  Russian.  But  if 
the  soldiers  are  slow  they  are  sure.  It  is  their  stub- 
bornness and  their  inability  to  know  when  they  are 
beaten  which  makes  them  such  formidable  oppo- 
nents in  a  prolonged  war.  The  longer  the  present 
war  lasts  the  more  formidable  the  Russian  soldier 
will  become;  his  patience  is  marvellous  and  he  has 
no  fear  of  death.  As  previously  stated,  he  will 
never  cease  to  fight  for  any  cause  which  appeals 
to  his  imagination  or  to  his  religious  fervour. 

These  qualities  were  noticed  during  the  Russo- 


UNIFORM,  ARMS,  AND  ARTILLERY      6i 

Turkish  campaign ;  the  cartoons  of  that  day  repre- 
sented the  soldiers  as  Hons  and  the  officers  as  asses. 
In  the  Russo-Japanese  War  the  officers,  with  some 
few  exceptions,  did  not  particularly  distinguish 
themselves,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  indomitable 
bravery  of  the  rank  and  file  the  disasters  would 
probably  have  been  far  greater  than  they  were. 
But  the  bitter  lessons  learnt  then  have  not  been  for- 
gotten, and  I  am  informed,  on  the  authority  of 
various  military  experts,  that  many  useful  reforms 
have  been  carried  out  in  the  Army  since  1905. 
This  year  was  one  of  the  blackest  and  saddest  of 
Russia's  tragic  and  sanguinary  history. 

Under  the  control  of  the  late  Grand  Duke  Mechail 
the  Elder,  who  was  chief  of  all  the  artillery,  this 
arm  numbered  6000  guns  of  various  dimensions. 
The  different  kinds  of  ordnance  include  light  ar- 
tillery, mountain  guns,  horse-artillery,  mortars, 
howitzers,  and  the  heavy  siege  guns,  the  majority 
of  which  are  constructed  at  the  Oboochoff,  Ses- 
toretsk,  and  Leteinnaja  cannon  works.  Many  siege 
guns  mounted  at  Cronstadt  and  other  fortresses 
were  made  by  Krupp  of  Esser. 

The  field  artillery  (quick-firing  guns)  which  I 
saw  when  last  at  Krasno  Selo,  came  as  a  rule  from 
the  famous  Schneider-Creuzot  works  in  France. 
Nothing  better  for  field  work  could  be  designed 


^2  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

fhan  these  improved  French  quick-firers ;  they  are 
alleged  to  be  far  superior  to  the  cannon  turned  out 
by  Krupp's.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  Russians 
possess  any  siege  guns  to  match  those  used  by  the 
Germans  against  Liege.^ 

The  cavalry  are  also  supplied  with  machine-guns 
of  various  makes.  An  artillery  brigade  usually  con- 
sists of  six  batteries;  a  division  has  three  batteries. 
Each  battery  contains  eight  3-inch  field  guns.     The 

^  Re  Creuzot-Schneider  gun,  Major  Harry  G.  Bishop 
writes  in  his  work  Elements  of  Modern  Field  Artillery: — 

"Other  nations  began  by  pooh-poohing  this  gun — Ger- 
many in  the  lead — then  passed  to  the  state  of  modifying 
their  existing  equipment,  and  ended  by  throwing  it  all 
in  the  scrap-heap  and  building  an  artillery  equipment  on 
the  same  general  lines  as  the  French.  This  is  the  present 
rapid-fire  gun,  which  the  entire  world,  including  the 
United  States,  has  been  forced  to  adopt,  against  its  will, 
and  at  an  expense  of  millions  of  dollars. 

"The  guns  in  use  during  the  Russo-Japanese  War  by 
both  sides,  though  often  spoken  of  as  'rapid-fire'  guns, 
were  not  the  guns  above  referred  to.  They  were  what 
is  technically  known  as  'accelerated  fire  guns,'  a  class 
falling  between  our  3.2  gun  of  1898  and  our  present 
true  'rapid-fire  gun.'  The  true  rapid-iire  gun,  therefore, 
received  no  test  in  this  war.  Its  first  appearance  on  a 
battlefield  of  any  magnitude  was  in  the  recent  Balkan 
War,  Accurate  or  detailed  accounts  of  its  performance 
there  are  lacking,  at  the  present  writing,  but  it  would 
appear  from  such  reports  as  have  been  received  concern- 
ing it,  that  this  supreme  test  will  not  cause  any  radical 
change  in  the  gun  or  in  the  adopted  principles  of  its 
technical   and  tactical   use." 


UNIFORM,  ARMS,  AND  ARTILLERY      63 

horse  artillery  are  usually  furnished  with  six  quick- 
firing  Schneider-Creuzots  of  three-inch  calibre. 
Owing  to  her  almost  inexhaustible  supply  of  horses, 
Russia  is  able  to  procure  the  very  finest  animals 
for  these  departments  of  the  Army,  and  this  is  as 
well,  for  the  dragging  of  the  heavy  guns  over  every 
kind  of  ground  tests  the  toughest  steed.  The  horses 
I  saw  at  Krasno  Selo  were  powerful  and  wiry; 
and  one  sees  how  it  is  that  the  Russians  can  bring 
artillery  into  action  so  quickly.  The  Cossack  ar- 
tillery particularly  impressed  me,  not  only  by  reason 
of  the  strength  and  muscle  of  the  horses,  but  be- 
cause of  the  admirable  skill  and  agility  of  the  gun- 
ners themselves  when  executing  a  manoeuvre. 

During  the  evolutions,  the  courtesy  of  a  Russian 
General  enabled  me  to  watch  several  attacks  on 
dummy  cavalry  by  batteries  of  horse  artillery.  A 
perfect  hail  of  shrapnel  was  poured  on  the  supposed 
advancing  forces;  after  the  firing  was  over,  we 
went  down  to  the  plain  to  examine  the  dummy 
horsemen.  Not  a  single  one  was  left  intact;  every 
horse,  or  its  rider,  had  been  struck  by  fragments 
of  flying  shrapnel.  In  actual  warfare,  if  the  gun- 
ners had  been  as  cool  as  they  were  on  this  occasion, 
the  whole  of  the  attacking  squadron  would  have 
been  swept  out  of  existence. 

In  the  Japanese  campaign,  though  the  Russian 


64  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

artillery  was  handicapped  by  inferior  weapons,  the 
men  behaved  with  remarkable  heroism.  Whole 
batteries  were  repeatedly  devastated  before  the  men 
could  find  the  correct  range,  yet  they  still  continued 
the  unequal  contest,  often  until  not  a  man  remained 
to  serve  the  guns.  Nimerovitch  Dachenko,  the  cele- 
brated Russian  novelist  and  foreign  correspondent, 
thus  describes  the  heroic  conduct  of  the  brave  fel- 
lows at  the  front : — 

"On  one  of  the  heights  the  Russian  artillery  for 
the  first  time  during  the  present  war  silenced  the 
Japanese  guns.  Before  concentrating  on  one  of  the 
chosen  positions  at  Haicheng  the  Russians  chal- 
lenged the  Japanese  to  fight.  A  hill  that  had  been 
previously  fortified  was  left  free.  The  Japanese, 
thinking  it  was  occupied,  for  thirteen  hours  poured 
on  its  sandy  sides  a  terrible  hail  of  projectiles.  At 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  opened  fire  on  the 
hill.  For  fourteen  entire  hours  the  Russian  quick- 
firing  guns  worked  without  intermission.  The  con- 
test was  horrible.  The  spectacle  was  grand,  even 
elemental.  There  were  moments  when  the  moun- 
tains themselves  seemed  to  shudder  on  their  rocky 
foundations.  The  entire  valley  with  its  numerous 
valleys,  fields,  and  meadows  resounded,  lamented, 
and  groaned  under  the  hundreds  of  steel  scourges 
that  flew  over  it — the  bursting  shrapnels.    At  mid- 


UNIFORM,  ARMS,  AND  ARTILLERY  65- 
day  two  of  the  Japanese  batteries  were  silenced.  We 
could  see  with  our  field-glasses  how  their  terrified 
attendants  fled  from  the  spot.  Towards  evening 
a  third  battery  was  silenced,  and  at  sunset  the  Japa- 
nese ran  short  of  ammunition.  The  wounded  on  the 
Russian  side  included  General  Sheshkoffsky,  of  the 
artillery,  and  Pachenko,  the  commander  of  a  bat- 
tery. 

"The  enemy  had  24  guns  in  action.  The  glory 
of  the  day  belonged  to  the  Barnoul  and  Tomsk 
troops  from  Siberia,  whilst  the  commander  of  the 
Tomsk  regiment  was  wounded.  The  Siberian  troops 
were  all  the  time  exposed  to  the  shrapnel  fire,  and, 
having  to  withstand  a  bayonet  charge,  sustained  the 
greatest  losses.  The  eleventh  regiment  beat  off  a 
cavalry  attack  by  firing  volleys,  whilst  the  remain- 
ing troops  received  the  enemy  on  their  bayonets. 
The  Japanese  came  on  to  the  attack  singing  and 
shouting  'Nippon  Banzai.'  " 

The  Russian  soldier  is  one  of  the  worst  paid  in 
Europe ;  for,  strictly  speaking,  he  receives  only  to- 
bacco money,  and  no  wages.  The  infantry  soldiers 
receive  the  astounding  sum  of  about  pd.  a  month, 
whilst  the  sergeant  draws  about  half  a  crown.  No 
wonder  the  poor  fellows  sometimes  commit  suicide 
on  this  extravagant  allowance;  for,  if  they  do  not 
receive  help  from  home,  their  four  or  five  years' 


66  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

service  is  a  terrible  tax  on  their  fortitude.  The 
officers  and  generals  also  are,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, very  badly  remunerated  for  their  services,  and 
how  so  many  of  them  manage  to  look  so  neat  in 
their  grey  coats  and  black  uniforms  has  always 
been  to  me  a  mystery. 

But  if  Russia,  owing  to  the  great  number  of  men 
with  the  colours,  is  unable  to  pay  adequate  salaries 
to  the  men  who  defend  the  country,  we  must  re- 
member that  the  Government  does  not  forget  the 
well-conducted  man,  whether  he  be  officer  or  pri- 
vate, who,  after  leaving  the  service,  is  generally 
sure  of  a  comfortable  berth  in  the  post  office,  cus- 
toms, railways,  police,  gendarmerie,  and  thousands 
of  other  posts  at  the  disposal  of  the  State.  Offi- 
cers and  generals  are  made  prefects,  chiefs  of  police, 
governors  of  provinces,  cities,  or  fortresses,  or  are 
appointed  to  other  important  positions  of  honour 
and  trust.  As  the  pay  of  the  officers  is  inadequate, 
each  officer  is  allowed  to  take  several  men  from 
his  regiment  to  act  as  servants.  As  a  rule,  these 
posts  are  coveted;  for  the  djenshiks,  as  they  are 
called,  are  better  fed  than  the  men  in  barracks, 
and  escape  a  good  deal  of  drill.  So  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  observe,  the  djenshiks  are  well  treated 
by  the  officers;  but  I  cannot  say  the  same  of  the 
"Generalshee"    and    *'Captainshee"    (the   Madame 


UNIFORM,  ARMS,  AND  ARTILLERY      67 

Generals  and  Madame  Captains),  who  are  so  im- 
pressed with  the  reflected  glory  of  their  husbands' 
dignity  that  they  show  their  own  power  by  half 
worrying  the  poor  fellows  to  death.  But  there  is 
one  consolation ;  not  every  general  has  a  "General- 
shee"  to  assist  him  in  maintaining  the  dignity  of 
his  position. 

The  maintenance  and  cost  to  the  crown  of  a 
Russian  private  generally  amounts  to  only  about 
^V7  3-  year,  which  is  not  surprising,  considering 
that  he  practically  receives  no  wages. 

Since  the  last  war,  the  pay  in  some  regiments 
has  been  increased ;  but  on  the  whole  we  must  ad- 
mit that  the  remuneration  a  Russian  soldier  re- 
ceives is  very  poor  indeed  compared  with  that  of 
an  English  private.  Nor  has  he  any  clubs,  music- 
halls,  billiard  saloons,  or  the  numerous  recreations 
and  amusements  that  are  open  to  our  own  soldiers 
when  they  have  a  little  money  in  their  pockets.  He 
is  permitted,  however,  to  dispose  of  his  labour  out- 
side the  army,  and  many  of  the  soldiers  add  con- 
siderably to  their  wages  by  working  at  the  harvest, 
by  loading  or  unloading  ships  and  barges,  and  by 
doing  other  heavy  work  when  strong  muscles  are 
needed. 


THE  JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS 


CHAPTER   VI 
THE  JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS 

IT  would  be  unjust,  and  a  fatal  mistake,  to  judge 
the  Russian  Army  or  its  resources  by  what  hap- 
pened in  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  At  that  time 
Russia  was  fighting  a  powerful,  up-to-date  army 
organised  on  the  German  model,  and  a  first-class 
navy,  and  was  engaged  6000  miles  away  from  home. 
Moreover,  all  the  time  this  life-and-death  struggle 
went  on,  she  was  occupied  in  stamping  out  the  revo- 
lutionary movement  among  her  own  subjects.  Be- 
ing forced  to  wage  two  wars  simultaneously,  she 
was  compelled  to  keep  her  finest  troops,  the  regulars 
and  the  regiments  of  guards,  in  Europe,  while  she 
employed  the  less  efficient  and  unsuitable  reservists, 
Cossacks,  and  Siberian  irregulars,  against  the  highly 
drilled  ranks  of  the  Japanese.  That  she  met  disas- 
ter is  not  to  be  wondered  at;  but  that  she  was  able 
to  carry  on  these  two  conflicts,  one  on  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic,  the  other  on  the  coasts  of  the  Pacific, 
is  indeed  astonishing.  Probably  never  before  in  the 
world's  history  were  battles  in  progress  at  such  a 

71 


72  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

distance  from  the  sources  of  supply  and  under  such 
disheartening  difficulties.  It  was  impossible  to  send 
the  forces  by  sea ;  men,  ammunition,  cannon,  stores, 
and  all  material,  had  to  be  conveyed  across  the  wide 
expanse  of  Asia.  Despite  these  obstacles,  the  Gov- 
ernment managed  to  send  about  860,000  men  to 
Manchuria  and  to  keep  this  enormous  army  eti  route, 
although  the  temperature  frequently  fell  far  below 
zero,  and  the  permanent  way  was  continually  being 
destroyed  by  the  Japanese  and  robber  Hun-hoos, 
and  by  the  revolutionists  at  home,  who  were  heart 
and  soul  opposed  to  the  war,  and  anxious  at  all 
costs  to  overthrow  the  existing  dynasty. 

Russia  then  had  all  the  odds  against  her;  now, 
however,  the  majority  of  the  factors  are  in  her 
favour.  The  war  against  the  Germans  is  popular 
with  almost  every  class,  from  prince  to  peasant,  for 
the  Germans,  during  the  last  two  hundred  years, 
have  monopolised  many  of  the  best  places  in  the 
administrative  departments,  and  in  various  spheres 
of  industry  and  commerce  have  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing themselves  intensely  disliked — even  more  so 
than  they  are  in  England.  They  have  been,  in  fact, 
the  schoolmasters  of  the  Russian  people.  They  have 
had  much  to  do  with  beating  them  into  shape,  but 
in  the  process  have  unfortunately  made  a  most  un- 
favourable impression.    "Suaviter  in  modo,  fortiter 


JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS       ^^ 

in  re"  has  not  been  the  motto  of  the  German  peda- 
gogues, bureaucrats,  merchants,  and  pioneers  of  in- 
dustry in  Russia;  thus  the  people,  instead  of  being 
grateful  to  the  Germans  for  benefits  undoubtedly 
obtained,  are,  on  the  contrary,  exceedingly  bitter 
against  their  one-time  tutors.  In  fact,  throughout 
the  world  the  Germans,  notwithstanding  their  many 
good,  qualities  and  virtues,  seem  to  have  evinced  a 
talent  for  rousing  the  dislike  of  all  among  whom 
they  reside.  There  also  exists  a  deep  racial  hatred 
between  the  Slavonic  and  Germanic  peoples,  of  the 
intensity  of  which  most  travellers  have  no  real  con- 
ception. 

In  considering  the  present  conflict,  we  must  re- 
member that  it  is  being  fought  not  thousands  of 
miles  away  in  the  Far  East,  but  at  Russia's  very 
gates,  and  with  an  army  backed  by  a  people  longing 
to  pay  off  old  scores.  This  being  the  case,  Russia's 
chances  of  success  are  enormously  greater  than  they 
were  in  the  previous  campaign,  when  she  gave  no 
idea  of  what  she  could  accomplish  in  more  favour- 
able circumstances.  The  peasantry  then  had  never 
heard  of  the  strange,  distant  nation,  and  could  not 
understand  in  the  least  what  the  war  was  about. 
Of  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  Germans,  and  the  un- 
believing Turks  they  had  some  sort  of  notion,  but 
they  knew  no  more  about  the  Japs  than  we  do  of 


74  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

the  inhabitants  of  Mars,  and  villagers  became  sorely 
perplexed  to  explain  the  enmity  of  these  terrible 
"little  yellow  men."  They  were  not  particularly 
accurate  in  their  ideas  of  the  English,  having  been 
told  that  we  "lived  on  an  island,  had  many  wives, 
and  were  of  the  same  faith  as  the  Turks" ;  but  with 
the  Japanese  they  were  still  farther  afield.  Many 
were  the  sage  confabulations  held  in  tiny  hamlets 
and  in  village  councils,  or  in  the  "trakters"  (tea- 
houses), on  the  theme  of  this  race  so  deadly  to  Holy 
Russia.  Some  of  the  wiseacres,  to  air  their  superior 
knowledge,  gravely  alleged  that  the  little  men  were 
skilled  in  magical  arts  and  witchcraft ;  others  averred 
that  the  Japanese  were  monkeys,  not  men  at  all,  and 
that  they  fought  with  the  help  of  a  dragon  which 
breathed  forth  fire  and  flame,  killing  all  who  came 
near  with  its  deadly  emanations.  The  officers,  who 
knew  everything,  had  a  magic  word,  which  they  had 
only  to  repeat  a  few  times  for  the  dragon  to  lose  his 
powers  and  expire.  Such  were  some  of  the  stories 
spread  round  the  villages  by  the  credulous  peasants, 
who  later  on  paid  a  terrible  price  for  their  ignorance. 
The  officers  in  that  war  learnt  the  salutary  lesson 
never  to  despise  an  opponent.  On  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities,  they  not  only  made  light  of  their  diminu- 
tive enemies,  but  boasted  to  General  Koorapatkine, 
their   commander-in-chief,   that  they  had  only  to 


JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS       75 

throw  up  their  caps  and  the  Japanese  would  instantly 
take  to  flight.  On  hearing  this  braggadocio,  the 
General  ironically  requested  his  young  enthusiasts 
to  order  several  hundred  thousand  of  these  wonder- 
ful caps,  for  he  had  just  returned  from  Japan,  and 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  would  be  sorely 
needed !  Later  on,  General  Rennenkampf  came  into 
conflict  with  the  yellow  men,  and  found  that  they 
were  terrible  little  Prussians,  who  did  everything 
by  rule  of  three,  and  could  render  an  excellent  ac- 
count of  themselves.  This  last  war  undoubtedly 
sobered  the  Russians,  and  although  they  and  their 
allies  are  numerically  superior  to  the  Germans  and 
Austrians,  previous  misfortunes  have  enlightened 
them,  and  they  are  now  marching  onward,  fully 
conscious  of  the  serious  nature  of  the  task  before 
them. 

Were  Russia  a  highly  organised,  compact  State 
like  Germany,  its  people  could  easily  overrun  the 
rest  of  Europe;  but  the  very  unwieldiness  of  the 
colossal  Empire  is  an  element  of  weakness.  Another 
vulnerable  point  is  the  Slavonic  hatred  of  order 
and  discipline,  qualities  which  in  military  matters 
are,  of  course,  of  the  first  importance.  The  Slavs 
have  always  been  inclined  to  anarchy,  and  have  a 
contempt  for  what  the  Germans  term  "ordnung." 
But  good  soldiers  learn  from  defeat,  and  the  bitter 


J6  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

lessons  of  the  Japanese  War  have  not  been  lost. 
One  of  the  main  reasons  for  Russia's  debacle  was 
her  unreadiness  for  war ;  her  antagonists  were  more 
than  ready,  as  they  had  prepared  secretly  for  the 
struggle  during  ten  years.  Even  the  very  battle- 
fields had  been  marked  by  the  painstaking  Japanese 
with  the  correct  distances  between  various  points  of 
importance  duly  noted,  so  that  a  smart  and  accurate 
fire  could  be  opened  immediately  the  guns  came  into 
action. 

For  months  prior  to  the  outbreak,  Port  Arthur, 
Petersburg,  Cronstadt,  Vladivostock,  and  other 
cities  teemed  with  Japanese  spies,  disguised  as  cooks, 
barbers,  merchants,  agents,  sellers  of  bric-a-brac, 
and  so  on.  They  had  learnt  their  lesson  well  from 
the  Germans,  and  even  bettered  their  instructors. 
The  unfortunate  Russians  were  completely  taken 
by  surprise ;  as  a  Russian  lady  exclaimed  to  me : 
"They  know  not  how  to  fight  the  terrible  little  yel- 
low men — all  they  know  is  how  to  die!"  And  die 
the  poor  soldiers  did,  with  that  stoicism,  bravery, 
and  resignation  so  peculiar  to  the  race. 

Thousands  perished  even  on  the  way  to  the  East, 
worn  out  by  fatigue  and  want  of  food,  without 
counting  the  thousands  killed  in  battle.  At  Laojan, 
the  total  Russian  losses  were  100,000,  of  whom 
40,000  were  taken  prisoner.    The  battle  of  Mukden, 


JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS       "jy 

according  to  Belgian  military  records,  was  one  of 
the  most  sanguinary  in  modern  history.  In  the 
battle  of  Leipzig,  which  lasted  from  the  i6tli  to  the 
1 8th  of  October,  1813,  460,000  men  took  part,  and 
the  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  amounted  to  92,- 
000.  In  the  battles  round  Metz,  from  the  i6th  to 
the  18th  of  August,  1870,  343,000  combatants  were 
engaged,  of  whom  74,000  were  put  out  of  action. 
But  in  the  great  struggle  of  Mukden,  in  which 
Koorapatkine  came  to  grief  owing  to  entrusting  the 
command  to  an  incompetent  general,  610,000  men 
were  engaged,  of  whom  116,000  were  killed  and 
wounded. 

Koorapatkine,  in  his  work,  endeavours  to  excul- 
pate himself  from  the  charge  of  incompetence. 
Whether  he  was  to  blame  or  not,  we  must  not  for- 
get that  his  troops  made  a  gallant  defence,  and  sus- 
tained losses  which  few  other  nations  could  stand 
without  complete  demoralisation.  As  an  example, 
I  may  mention  that  of  63  officers  of  the  First  Si- 
berian Sharpshooters  only  three  were  left  alive; 
of  the  3000  soldiers  comprising  the  regiment,  only 
150  survived.  As  in  the  present  war,  whole  divi- 
sions were  decimated  by  the  terrible  fire  and  on- 
slaught of  the  enemy.  Among  the  chief  sufferers 
was  the  Dorpat  or  Jurieff  Regiment,  which  after 
this,  its  first  encounter  with  the  foe,  had  only  two 


78  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

officers  unwounded  out  of  79,  and  only  619  privates 
left  from  its  full  strength  of  4000  men — the  usual 
complement  of  a  Russian  regiment. 

Some  of  the  officers  so  far  forgot  their  duty  as 
to  remain  in  Mukden,  spending  their  time  in  enjoy- 
ment while  the  men  fought  for  life;  for  this  they 
paid  dearly  later  on.  Mischievous  and  frivolous 
women,  who  had  joined  the  army  on  the  pretence 
of  attending  to  the  wounded,  also  had  much  to  do 
with  the  misfortunes,  for  which  many  an  innocent 
paid  with  his  life.  The  women  who  had  caused 
the  officers  to  neglect  duty  were  unhappily  not  made 
examples  of,  with  disastrous  results  to  the  morale  of 
the  troops.  In  the  present  war  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  women  will  not  be  permitted  to  play  such 
a  pernicious  part,  the  more  so  as  Lord  Kitchener 
does  not  hold  with  petticoat  government.  The  class 
of  women  who  will  be  allowed  to  accompany  our 
forces  will  probably  be  as  much  an  honour  to  their 
sex  as  those  of  Mukden  were  a  disgrace  to  it. 

The  soldiers  were  so  embittered  against  their 
officers  that  they  shot  several  in  the  heat  of  battle 
when  it  was  difficult  to  know  by  whom  the  shots 
were  fired.  "We  have  killed  many,"  said  a  veteran 
to  me,  "and  we  will  shoot  more  if  it  occurs  again!" 

A  Prussian  officer,  whilst  condemning  Koora- 
patkine,  does  not  cease  to  be  human;  his  remarks, 


JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS       79 

therefore,  are  particularly  interesting  at  the  present 
moment.  "A  man  bowed  down  by  misfortune, 
Koorapatkine  now  stands  before  us  after  the  defeat 
which  he  suffered  in  his  position  at  Mukden.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  position  was  quite  unsuit- 
able he  stuck  to  it  with  fatal  obstinacy  to  the  last 
minute.  It  is  only  due  to  the  brilliant  military 
genius  of  Linevitch  ^  that  Russia  has  at  the  present 
moment  any  army  at  all  in  the  Far  East;  this  will 
form  the  nucleus  of  a  new  army  if  the  Japanese 
give  their  opponents  siifUcient  time.  But  to  what 
extent  shall  we  acquit  Koorapatkine  of  blame?  I 
think  that  this  all  depends  on  the  degree  to  which 
he  was  allowed  freedom  of  action.  I  am  person- 
ally of  opinion  that  at  Mukden,  as  well  as  at  Lao- 
jan,  Koorapatkine  acted  under  pressure  from  St. 
Petersburg.  It  is  almost  confirmed  that  after 
Laojan  the  defence  of  Mukden  was  imposed  upon 
him  as  a  duty  in  order  that  the  loss  of  the  old 
Manchurian  capital  should  not  damage  Russian 
prestige.  From  the  reports  and  data  "  to  hand  con- 
cerning the  battle  of  Mukden,  it  is  evident  that  he 
was  the  victim  of  a  fatal  interference.  On  the  22nd 
of  February  the  Commander-in-Chief  gave  the  or- 

^  Linevitch :  "The  old  grey  wolf  of  Manchuria,"  as  the 
soldiers  lovingly  called  him,  did  form  a  new  army. 

'  "Frankfurter  Zeitung." 


8o  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

der  to  send  heavy  cannon  to  Tieling,  thus  showing 
that  he  considered  it  impossible  to  hold  his  posi- 
tion; but  instead  of  returning  with  his  entire  army- 
after  the  artillery  he  remained  two  days  in  his  old 
position,  thus  giving  the  enemy  an  opportunity 
of  uniting  forces  and  inflicting  punishment  on 
the  right  and  left  flanks  by  means  of  a  turning 
movement.  This  caused  the  Russians  terrible 
losses  on  the  western  flank  whilst  retreating  to 
Tieling.  How  shall  we  explain  this  delay?  If  it 
did  not  take  place  through  interference  from  St. 
Petersburg,  then  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that 
Koorapatkine  lost  his  head ;  but  this  I  consider  com- 
pletely impossible,  the  more  so  because  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, at  the  very  last  moment,  insti- 
tuted a  counter-attack  against  the  Japanese  left 
flank,  thus  risking  being  taken  prisoner.  Such  a 
bold  step  could  not  be  taken  by  a  man  who  had  lost 
his  head.  I  am  therefore  of  the  opinion  that  events 
did  not  happen  in  this  manner  without  instruc- 
tions from  St.  Petersburg.  Of  course,  we  should 
know  the  truth  about  everything  if  the  diary  of 
Koorapatkine  appeared  in  the  Press,  but  in  every 
case  the  responsibility  falls  entirely  upon  those  who 
insisted  upon  his  preserving  the  -positions  at  Muk- 
den." 

We  must  also. remember  that  Koorapatkine  was 


JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS      8i 

not  allowed  to  carry  out  his  own  plan  of  campaign, 
but  was  sent  to  relieve  Port  Arthur,  although  that 
was  an  impossibility,  owing  to  its  being  so  strongly 
invested.  Just  as  the  Russian  fleet  was  sacrificed 
at  Tchushima  to  appease  popular  clamour  for  ac- 
tion, Koorapatkine  was  forced  into  attempting  what 
was  impossible. 

Another  cause  of  much  fatal  blundering  was  the 
want  of  maps.  When  the  war  began,  Russian 
troops  had  to  enter  Manchuria  without  these  abso- 
lutely necessary  details  of  a  campaign  in  a  strange 
country.  Complaints  were  immediately  made  to  St. 
Petersburg  about  this  oversight,  and  General  Po- 
niaffsky  predicted  that  this  negligence  would  spell 
disaster.  The  General's  fears  proved  only  too  true, 
and  many  a  valuable  life  was  lost  unnecessarily, 
especially  during  the  artillery  contests,  which  were 
carried  on  by  the  Russian  gunners  ignorant  of  the 
actual  range  and  with  inferior  ordnance. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  opponents  had  splendid 
maps.  Each  soldier  was  supplied  with  one  on  which 
probable  battle  grounds  were  carefully  marked,  and 
even  the  range  between  the  different  points  ac- 
curately calculated.  This  foresight  was  invaluable, 
for  when  the  fighting  opened  at  Laojan,  the  Yalu, 
and  other  places  time  was  not  wasted  in  finding  the 
range ;  it  was  there  in  plain  figures  before  their  eyes. 


82  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

But  all  these  disadvantages  and  terrible  losses  did 
not  discourage  the  Russians.  Had  they  been  al- 
lowed to  continue  the  campaign  with  the  brave  old 
Linevitch,  who  had  encamped  at  Tieling  with  a 
fresh  army,  composed  of  guards  and  regulars,  Rus- 
sia would  probably  have  won  in  this  struggle  against 
the  Japs,  just  as  she  did  in  the  long  contest  with 
Napoleon. 

An  unknown  historian  has  pointed  out  with  truth 
that  Russia,  during  the  whole  course  of  her  his- 
tory, has  hardly  ever  waged  a  war  quicker  or  fin- 
ished one  with  such  a  success  as  the  Franco-Prussian 
War.  During  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great,  she 
began  the  Northern  War  disastrously  at  Narva. 
Yet,  although  signally  defeated  by  a  vastly  inferior 
force  of  Swedes,  she  continued  for  twenty-one 
years  and  did  not  finish  until  she  was  completely 
victorious,  and  Sweden  was  utterly  exhausted. 

With  Napoleon  the  Russians  carried  on  war  for 
ten  years,  beginning  by  their  crushing  defeat  at 
Austerlitz  and  terminating  with  the  capture  of  Paris 
and  the  downfall  of  Napoleon.  In  1878  they  suf- 
fered three  defeats  at  Plevna,  but  thanks  to  the 
guards  and  the  regular  troops,  which  were  not  used 
in  the  Japanese  struggle,  they  were  finally  victori- 
ous and  were  able  to  sign  a  treaty  of  peace  at  Con- 
stantinople.    Russia  has  always  paid  very  dearly 


JAPANESE  WAR  AND  ITS  LESSONS      83 

in  the  beginning  of  a  campaign  for  her  unreadiness, 
but  in  the  end  she  has  won,  thanks  to  her  extraordi- 
nary obstinacy  in  carrying  on  a  losing  war  and  her 
power  to  suffer  amazing  loss  of  life  and  property 
without  losing  heart.  That  the  average  Russian 
is  a  fatalist  like  the  Turk,  and  that  he  considers 
that  everything  that  happens,  good  and  bad,  as 
the  will  of  God,  is  an  immense  help  and  source  of 
comfort  to  him  when  surrounded  by  enemies  and 
discouraged  by  defeat. 

The  remarkable  quality  of  Russian  endurance 
was  also  shown  at  Borodino,  where  the  troops,  al- 
though attacked  by  the  finest  forces  of  Napoleon, 
held  their  ground  with  such  tenacity  that  Napoleon 
had  to  confess  that  a  few  more  such  victories  of 
this  Pyrrhic  character  would  mean  his  complete  un- 
doing. In  the  sanguinary  struggle  which  is  graphi- 
cally described  in  Tolstoi's  "Peace  and  War"  the 
Russians  lost  38,000  men  out  of  a  total  force  of 
110,000.^  In  the  defence  of  Sevastopol,  which  held 
out  for  over  a  year,  it  is  estimated  that  their  losses 
were  not  fewer  than  100,000  men.  In  all  their  cam- 
paigns we  see  the  same  indomitable  spirit  in  the 

^  Note  on  the  Battle  of  Borodino:  La  perte  fut  excessive 
de  part  et  d'autre;  elle  pent  etre  evaluee  a  28,000  francaise 
et  50,000  Russes.  (Campaigne  de  Russie  en  18 12,  par  M. 
Le  Due  de  Fezensac.) 


84  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

grey-coated  soldiers,  who  know  how  to  die  on  the 
field  of  battle,  even  if  they  do  not  always  know 
how  to  conquer.  It  is  this  self-sacrificing  spirit 
more  than  anything  else  that  has  been  the  making 
of  the  empire:  the  willingness  to  die  for  an  idea, 
whether  it  be  for  the  Tsar,  the  Orthodox  Church 
or  the  country.  We  see  the  same  spirit  in  the  revo- 
lutionists :  a  readiness  to  offer  everything,  even  life 
itself,  for  an  idea  on  which  they  choose  to  set  their 
minds.  This  capacity  to  suffer  for  an  ideal  is  pecu- 
liarly Russian,  and  in  the  near  future  is  sure  to  have 
a  great  influence  on  the  destinies  of  Europe. 

One  of  our  greatest  ambassadors.  Sir  Robert 
Morier,  once  publicly  thanked  God  for  giving  the 
Russian  people  kind  hearts.  Let  us  hope  that  his 
estimate  of  them  will  prove  true  of  their  soldiers; 
for  the  fate  of  Europe  depends  largely  upon  the 
simple  moiijik. 


THE  COSSACKS 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE   COSSACKS 

THE  Cossacks  undoubtedly  are  the  most  noted 
soldiers  of  the  Russian  Army.  This  enor- 
mous living  rampart  protects  the  frontiers  of  Russia 
from  the  shores  of  the  Don  to  the  Pacific  Ocean; 
all  through  the  enormous  stretch  of  territory  of 
South  Russia,  the  Caucasus,  Persia,  Turkestan, 
Siberia  and  along  the  distant  shores  of  the  Pacific 
will  always  be  found  the  Cossack,  ever  on  the  alert, 
looking  after  the  interests  of  his  "Little  Mother" 
(Holy  Russia),  as  he  calls  her. 

In  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies the  Cossacks  had  their  own  states  or  republics 
and  were  governed  by  a  Hetman  or  military  gover- 
nor elected  by  the  people.  Their  principal  settle- 
ments were  on  the  banks  of  the  Don  and  the  Donetz, 
where  they  formed  a  series  of  powerful  independent 
groups,  organised  on  the  most  democratic  basis 
possible.  Their  whole  form  of  government  was 
very  similar  to  that  of  the  ancient  and  famous 
republics  of   Novgorod   the   Great,   Tver,    Pskoff, 

87 


88  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

Yaroslaff  and  Suzdal.  They  spent  most  of  their 
time  in  freebooting  or  in  waging  war  against  other 
states  around  them.  Many  times  it  was  against  the 
"infidel"  Crimean  Tartars  (Basurmen),  whom  it 
was  actually  a  virtue  to  kill  and  plunder;  at  others 
the  cruel  Poles  (the  Catholics)  were  the  objects 
of  their  raids,  while  the  autocratic  Grand  Duchy  of 
Muscovy  and  the  Turks  also  knew  what  it  was  to 
encounter  these  terrible  warriors.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, they  would  join  with  the  Turks  and  fight  the 
Muscovites,  or,  if  the  pay  was  good  and  there  were 
chances  of  plenty  of  plunder  they  have  been  known 
to  throw  in  their  lot  with  the  Tartars.  In  fact,  so 
long  as  there  was  stirring  adventure  to  be  had  and 
good  booty  to  be  gained  the  true  Cossack  of  the  past 
did  not  particularly  mind  with  whom  he  fought,  or 
against  whom  he  turned  his  arms. 

In  the  days  of  their  greatest  power  it  is  said  that 
they  could  muster  about  300,000  horsemen,  the  ma- 
jority of  whom  were  free  men  and  freeholders. 
Our  old  English  yeomen  who  turned  out  in  their 
thousands  to  assist  John  Hampden  and  the  Parlia- 
ment at  a  moment's  notice  are  the  nearest  approach 
I  know  to  the  Cossacks,  who  might  also  be  compared 
to  the  freebooters  of  the  border. 

The  Cossacks  at  last  became  so  powerful,  that  it 
was  necessary  for  the  Government  of  Muscovy  to 


THE  COSSACKS  89 

undertake  a  series  of  energetic  wars  against  them, 
during  which  their  celebrated  leaders,  Stenker- 
Rjazin,  Pugacheff  and  others  fought  furiously  in 
trying  to  overthrow  the  "hated  goats,"  ^  as  they 
called  the  Muscovites.  More  than  once  they  very 
nearly  succeeded  in  defeating  their  assailants,  and 
thus  upsetting  the  whole  state  and  fabric  of  Russia. 
"Land,  Liberty  and  the  Old  Faith"  was  their  motto, 
and  with  this  cry  they  assembled  in  their  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  on  the  banks  of  the  Volga 
and  compelled  Catherine  II  more  than  once  to  send 
the  Imperial  Russian  army  against  them.  Often 
the  Russians  were  defeated,  until  at  last,  one  after 
another,  the  Cossack  leaders  were  betrayed  and 
brought  to  Moscow,  where  they  were  usually 
hanged,  drawn  and  quartered;  thus,  little  by  little, 
the  Cossack  power  was  broken. 

For  a  long  time,  however,  these  warriors  re- 
mained so  troublesome  that  the  Muscovite  Govern- 
ment thought  it  wise  to  unite  them  peacefully  with 
Holy  Russia  under  their  Hetman,  Bogdan  Chlemet- 
sky,  thereby  using  their  wonderful  bravery  and  en- 
ergy for  the  expansion  and  defence  of  the  Russian 
Empire,  Ermak,  a  Cossack  freebooter  of  Avar  ori- 
gin, born  at  Ermakova  on  the  lower  Volga,  was 

^  So  called  because  they  wore  long  beards,  while  the  Cos- 
sacks wore  large  drooping  moustaches. 


90  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

one  of  the  first  to  offer  his  services  to  the  AIus- 
covites.  In  order  to  propitiate  Ivan  the  Terrible  he 
presented  to  him  the  enormous  continent  of  Siberia, 
which  he,  with  a  handful  of  daredevils,  had  wrested 
from  the  fierce  Tartars  and  Mongols  in  the  days  of 
Good  Queen  Bess.  Probably  never  in  the  world's 
history  has  such  an  expanse  of  country  been  con- 
quered by  so  few  invaders.  The  place  is  still  shown 
where  Ermak  rode  his  horse  into  the  blue  waters  of 
the  Pacific.  It  was  a  long  ride — about  5000  miles — 
from  the  Volga  to  the  Pacific,  but  this  distance  was 
not  considered  too  much  for  a  Cossack.  The  writer 
himself  knew  Nicholas  Pjeskoff,  a  Cossack  officer, 
who  rode  all  the  way  from  Blagoveshchensk  on  the 
Amur  to  the  Baltic  on  a  small  Cossack  pony,  a  dis- 
tance of  6000  miles.  All  St.  Petersburg  was  anx- 
ious to  see  this  little  man;  for  Pjeskoff  was  of  small 
stature,  and  in  the  depth  of  the  Arctic  winter  had 
braved  the  snow-drifts  of  Siberia,  the  merciless 
steppes  and  the  Taiga  when  the  temperature  was 
frequently  30  and  40  degrees  below  zero. 

In  order  to  show  my  appreciation  and  admiration 
for  this  modern  representative  of  Ermak  or  Taras 
Bulba,  whose  exploit  Gogol  has  immortalised,  I 
passed  a  night  in  the  open  near  Looga  with  Tom 
Stevens,  the  celebrated  and  plucky  correspondent  of 
the  "New  York  World,"  who  travelled  the  wilds  of 


THE  COSSACKS  91 

Africa  for  his  paper  in  search  of  the  great  explorer 
Stanley,  who  had  disappeared  into  the  forest  depths 
of  the  Dark  Continent. 

The  women,  as  well  as  the  men,  are  first-class 
riders — veritable  Amazons  like  their  Scythian  and 
Sarmatian  ancestors. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  describe  the  wonderful 
deeds  which  have  been  accomplished  by  these  men 
from  time  to  time.  Volumes  might  be  written  of 
the  feats  accomplished  under  Ermak,  their  fearless, 
hardy  leader — deeds  rivalling  in  interest  those  re- 
lated by  Fenimore  Cooper  of  the  Indians.  How- 
ever, I  have  said  quite  enough  to  show  of  what 
metal  the  Cossacks  are  made,  and  what  they  can 
accomplish  when  called  upon.  In  the  last  war  they 
were  of  incalculable  value  in  keeping  open  and  de- 
fending the  long  line  of  communication  in  the  Far 
East.  In  fact,  they  were  so  useful  that  had  it  not 
been  for  them,  the  war  with  the  Japanese  could 
never  have  been  waged  at  all.  It  was  the  Cossacks 
who  guarded  the  East  Siberian  and  Manchurian 
railways,  a  distance  of  2000  miles.  They  prevented 
the  line  from  being  blown  up  by  the  Japanese  and 
the  Hun-hoos,  as  the  Mongolian  bandits  are  called 
in  the  Far  East. 

Of  all  the  Cossacks,  the  Siberian  Cossack  is  prob- 
ably the  hardiest  and  strongest.    Many  of  these  are 


92  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

veritable  giants  in  comparison  with  the  dwellers 
in  the  towns,  and  are  of  enormous  strength.  Some 
of  them  are  descendants  of  the  very  Cossacks 
who  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  followed  Ermak 
through  Siberia,  never  halting  until  they  had 
reached  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  During  the  wars 
of  Napoleon  the  Cossacks  played  a  great  part,  con- 
tributing more  than  any  otlier  body  of  men  to  the 
cutting  up  and  destroying  of  the  army  of  the  great 
general,  especially  in  the  disastrous  retreat  from 
Moscow.  It  was  the  Cossacks  who  converted  the 
retreat  into  a  rout  by  cutting  off  all  stragglers,  at- 
tacking the  weary  soldiers  night  and  day,  never 
giving  them  time  to  rest  or  to  regain  their  scattered 
battalions.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  Cossacks  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  French  army  eventually 
would  have  got  back  to  France,  but  with  this  ubiqui- 
tous and  restless  body  of  cavalry  worrying  and 
alarming  the  unfortunate  soldiers  it  was  impos- 
sible. 

What  role  the  Cossack  is  going  to  play  in  the 
present  great  war  is  still  uncertain,  but  it  will  no 
doubt  be  a  very  momentous  one,  especially  if  the 
Germans,  or  rather  Prussians,  are  put  to  flight. 
The  terror  inspired  by  the  campaigns  of  1812,  1813, 
18 14  still  lives  in  East  Prussia,  through  which  some 
thousands  of  these  wild  horsemen,  accompanied  by 


THE  COSSACKS  93 

hordes  of  "Khirgise"  bowmen,  marched  to  Paris. 
The  atrocities  then  committed  by  Cossacks  and  not 
by  modern  Prussians  are  still  remembered.  If  I  am 
not  mistaken  the  wild,  savage  spirit  still  lives  in 
many  of  them,  especially  in  those  from  the  Cau- 
casus and  the  Asiatic  provinces.  If  these  men  are 
not  controlled  by  their  officers  they  will  commit 
fearful  acts  of  vandalism  on  the  Germans,  who  will 
thus  be  paid  back  in  their  own  coin  for  the  shameful 
way  they  have  treated  defenceless  Belgians  with 
whom  they  had  no  quarrel.  An  officer  of  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  told  the  writer  a  few  years  ago  that  the 
Cossacks,  for  some  reason  or  other,  are  much  in- 
censed against  the  Prussians,  and  that  he  had  him- 
self heard  a  Cossack  officer  urge  his  men  not  to 
spare  the  Prussians  but  to  slaughter  them  all — men, 
women,  and  children — when  they  entered  the  coun- 
try. This  they  will  probably  do  unless  held  in 
check,  so  bitter  is  their  hatred  of  the  "Prussakee." 
But  we  must  remember  that  all  Cossacks  are  not 
the  same  either  with  regard  to  race  or  character; 
there  are  many  different  types  of  varying  character, 
appearance  and  tradition.  There  are  185,000  Don 
Cossacks,  Kuban  Cossacks,  Terek  Cossacks,  Astra- 
chan  Cossacks,  Ural  Cossacks,  Orenburg  Cossacks, 
Trans-Baikal  Cossacks,  Amour  Cossacks  and  many 
others  too  numerous  to  mention  here.     Not  all  are 


94  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

of  the  Stenker-Rjazin  and  Taras  Bulba  type;  they 
slaughtered  everyone  they  came  across  without 
mercy.  Some  of  the  kindest  men  who  ever  lived 
have  been  Cossacks  and  also  some  of  the  most  cruel. 
Since  the  last  Turkish  war  the  number  of  Cos- 
sack regiments  have  been  increased,  and  it  is  alleged 
that  the  total  number  that  Russia  has  under  her 
standard  to-day  is  185,000  men;  most  of  these  are 
freeholders  or  small  farmers  who  supply  their  own 
horses,  uniform  and  accoutrements.  They  possess 
many  valuable  privileges,  the  remains  of  their 
former  power;  they  have  much  greater  political  and 
civil  freedom  than  the  ordinary  Russian  citizen  who 
since  the  destruction  of  the  old  free  republic  of 
Northern  Russia  and  the  invasion  of  the  Tartars 
has  nev^er  known  what  true  freedom  is,  such  as  is 
enjoyed  by  the  English,  the  Scandinavians,  the 
French,  the  Dutch  and  the  Belgians.  Since  the 
Boer  War  the  Cossacks  have  been  converted  into 
mounted  infantry,  but  it  is  not  yet  known  whether 
the  innovation  is  of  much  practical  use.  The  Cos- 
sack is  generally  taken  to  be  a  mounted  soldier,  but 
there  are  regiments  which  also  consist  of  infantry 
and  artillery.  Generally  attached  to  bodies  of  in- 
fantry, they  are  used  for  scouting,  foraging,  keep- 
ing up  lines  of  communication  and  protecting  the 
flanks  of  an  army  from  sudden  attack.     They  are 


THE  COSSACKS  95 

divided  into  hundreds,  like  the  old  Romans,  and 
commanded  by  an  officer  corresponding  to  the  Ro- 
man centurion.  Their  military  organisation  is  quite 
distinct  and  original  and  bears  traces  of  Scandi- 
navian, Tartar  and  perhaps  even  of  Byzantine  in- 
fluence. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  interesting  pe- 
riods of  the  writer's  life  was  spent  among  these  peo- 
ple in  the  peaceful  and  beautiful  Ukraine  (Little 
Russia),  where  so  many  of  them  dwell.  The 
Ukraine  is  truly  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 
Here  everything  grows  in  abundance ;  wheat,  maize, 
sunflowers,  buckwheat,  tobacco,  grapes,  melons  and 
every  variety  of  fruit.  No  wonder  then  that  there 
is  a  merry  side  to  the  fierce,  rough  Cossacks  when 
they  have  been  reared  and  nurtured  in  such  a  rich 
and  verdant  country.  In  their  beautiful  songs, 
dances  and  choruses  they  show  that  they  know  how 
to  appreciate  the  beautiful  and  are  full  of  the  joy  of 
life,  when  not  engaged  in  war  which,  unfortunately, 
brings  out  the  latent  barbaric  nature  in  them. 

What  can  be  more  plaintive  and  beautiful  than 
their  songs,  some  of  which  resemble  the  old  English 
madrigals  ?  No  people  in  Europe  have  more  beauti- 
ful folk  songs  than  the  Cossacks.  The  only  people 
who  can  in  any  way  approach  them  in  this  respect 
are  the  Welsh  and  perhaps  some  of  the  Scandi- 


96  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

navian  races.  The  true  Cossack  is  nearly  always 
singing ;  when  not  singing  he  is  frequently  dancing. 
He  must  somehow  or  other  get  rid  of  his  exuberant 
vitality.  His  dancing  is  not  awkward  and  violent 
like  that  of  many  of  the  Great  Russians;  it  is  full 
of  grace,  poetry  and  harmony,  probably  owing  to 
the  refining  influence  of  the  Poles,  who  for  a  time 
ruled  the  Cossacks  with  a  rod  of  iron. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  are  such  splen- 
did horsemen  and  can  perform  feats  which  would 
turn  a  cow-boy  green  with  envy,  they  are  far  too 
lightly  mounted  to  be  used  against  heavy  cavalry. 
The  weight  of  man  and  horse  of  a  modern  squadron 
of  heavy  cavalry  would  ride  down  an  equal  number 
of  Cossacks,  mounted  on  their  light  but  nimble 
horses.  But  they  still  have  their  uses  in  war,  and  if, 
during  the  present  struggle,  they  perform  but  a  tithe 
of  the  valiant  deeds  they  have  accomplished  in 
former  wars  they  will  make  an  impression  on  Ger- 
many which  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 


THE     COSSACKS     IN     MODERN     TIMES 

AND  A  COSSACK  AMAZON  NOW  AT 

THE    FRONT 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES: 
AND  A  COSSACK  AMAZON  NOW  AT 
THE  FRONT 

MY  first  acquaintance  with  the  Cossacks  was 
during  the  reign  of  Alexander  III,  when  a 
large  force  of  these  irregulars  performed  a  series 
of  military  evolutions  in  the  great  square  of  the 
Kremlin  at  Moscow.  The  feats  of  horsemanship 
common  among  them  are  rarely  excelled  in  any 
other  country.  These  wild  riders  shot  well  in  every 
imaginable  position — some  hanging  below  the  belly 
of  their  steeds,  others  standing  upright  in  the  sad- 
dle, in  all  the  exercises  showing  equal  smartness 
and  skill.  The  most  surprising  feat  represented  the 
carrying  away  of  a  woman  by  a  Cossack  on  horse- 
back, while  standing  in  his  saddle.  The  men  seem 
to  live  on  horseback,  and  to  be  a  part  of  the  ani- 
mals that  carry  them,  like  the  fabled  centaurs  of 
the  Greeks. 

The  second  occasion  on  which  I  came  into  con- 
tact with  this  branch  of  the  Russian  Army  was 

99 


loo  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

when  near  Lubotin,  on  one  of  the  estates  of  Prince 
Svajatopock  Mirsky,  the  Hetman  of  the  Don  Cos- 
sacks. Both  of  the  Hetman's  two  sturdy  sons  were 
Cossacks,  although  they  were  highly  educated  and 
belonged  to  one  of  Russia's  most  noble  families. 
It  was  owing  to  a  member  of  this  family  that  Rus- 
sia was  for  a  short  time  granted  a  constitution 
and  representative  government.  The  father  him- 
self was  a  descendant  of  Svjatopock,  the  Grand 
Duke  who  murdered  his  brother  and  who  for  that 
reason  was  called  "the  accursed."  He  was  ex- 
tremely handsome,  with  a  long  white  beard,  re- 
sembling Edward  III,  or  some  old  Viking  earl. 

Although  his  family  had  been  in  the  country  for 
a  thousand  years,  he  still  suggested  the  viking  type. 
His  wife,  a  beautiful,  accomplished  lady  whom  I 
shall  ever  remember  with  pleasure,  showed  me 
round  the  picture-gallery,  which  contained  many 
valuable  works  of  the  old  masters.  Her  sons  in- 
formed me  that  they  each  had  over  1500  acres  of 
the  communal  land  as  their  birthright,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  they  were  born  free  Cossacks. 

Later  on,  in  the  Kuban  district  of  the  Northern 
Caucasus,  I  came  to  know  others  of  this  denomina- 
tion, who  were  very  wealthy;  some  of  the  Kuban 
Cossacks,  in  fact,  owned  one  or  two  thousand  acres 
of   the   yery  finest  land   in   Europe,   which   they 


THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES     lor 

farmed,  or  rented  to  the  Greeks,  who  raised  here 
tobacco  equal  to  the  best  Turkish.  These  soldiers 
are  exceedingly  handsome,  and  dead  shots.  They 
are  such  splendid  horsemen  that  with  the  Cossacks 
of  the  Terek  they  are  usually  selected  for  the  Tsar's 
own  bodyguard,  and  are  known  as  the  Imperial 
Convoy,  trusted  to  the  last,  and  accompanying  the 
Tsar  in  his  travels  whenever  possible.  Their  erect 
carriage  and  fine  appearance  is  said  to  be  due  to 
the  fact  that  their  ancestors,  during  the  forty  years 
they  were  fighting  the  brave  Caucasians,  used  to 
run  off  and  marry  all  the  most  beautiful  Caucasian 
women  they  could  find.  This  struggle  was  so  long 
and  bitter  that  in  the  Kuban  province  almost  every 
acre  has  been  drenched  with  blood. 

The  last  time  I  met  the  Cossacks  the  meeting  was 
very  close  indeed,  I  was  in  St.  Petersburg,  and 
there  were  serious  riots  in  the  Kazan  Square.  The 
Don  Cossacks,  called  out  in  haste,  rode  down  the 
students,  labourers,  and  other  demonstrators  like 
a  living  avalanche ;  they  appeared  to  spring  from 
nowhere.  In  an  instant,  almost  before  I  was  aware 
of  them,  they  were  charging  the  crowd,  striking 
right  and  left  with  their  terrible  loaded  whips  that 
cut  and  tear  the  flesh  almost  like  a  sword.  Never 
shall  I  forget  that  scene;  many  men  and  young 
women  were  trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  horses. 


I02  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

During  the  manoeuvres  at  Krasno  Selo,  on  one 
occasion  I  narrowly  escaped  being  ridden  down  by 
about  three  thousand  of  these  dare-devil  horsemen. 
In  peace  they  are  terrible  enough;  in  war,  they 
are  wellnigh  irresistible,  rushing  like  a  whirlwind 
on  the  scattering  enemy.  Nothing  can  withstand 
them;  men  and  horses  fall  like  ripe  corn  under 
their  long  lances  and  the  curved  sabres  which  they 
wield  with  such  awful  skill.  An  idea  of  what  they 
can  accomplish  with  these  two  favourite  weapons 
may  be  obtained  from  the  thrilling  tale  "Taras 
Bulba,"  by  Gogol,  the  famous  Cossack  author. 
These  form  the  formidable  enemy  which  Austrians 
and  Prussians  have  to  meet  on  the  eastern  frontiers. 
Should  they  once  succeed  in  breaking  through,  they 
will  be  in  Berlin  and  Vienna,  in  all  probability,  al- 
most as  soon  as  this  little  work  sees  the  light. 

The  Cossacks  are  of  two  great  kinds,  Stanovia 
and  Caucasian.  The  latter  are  attired  in  close- 
fitting  "tcherkeske"  or  long  gowns,  and  armed  with 
small-bore  magazine  rifles,  weighing  nine  pounds 
(Russian),  a  curved  sword,  and  a  double-edged 
dagger.  All  other  Cossacks  are  dressed  in  a  long 
surtout  without  buttons,  and  armed  with  a  similar 
rifle,  a  curved  sword  and  a  long  lance.  Old-fash- 
ioned pictures  of  the  Crimean  War  often  show 
these    warriors.      Their    horses    are    Siberian    or 


THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES     103 

Khirgise,  certainly  not  much  as  regards  appearance, 
but  as  hardy  and  enduring  as  their  riders.  A  pe- 
cuHar  saddle  is  used,  on  which  are  placed  two  cush- 
ions ;  when  on  the  march  these  are  employed  as  a 
bag  for  their  linen  and  various  trifles. 

Hardened  by  constant  exposure,  face  to  face  with 
wild  and  lonely  aspects  of  nature,  the  Siberian 
Cossacks  have  acquired  a  sombre  and  melancholy 
character.  The  majority  of  them  are  Old  Believers, 
i.e.  they  keep  to  the  rites  and  observances  as  prac- 
tised by  the  Orthodox  Church  before  its  reform  by 
the  patriarch  Nikon,  For  this  they  were  formerly 
much  persecuted;  but  latterly  they  have  been  al- 
lowed to  retain  their  own  peculiar  views  unmo- 
lested. 

In  times  of  peace  these  regiments  guard  the  Si- 
berian frontiers  against  savage  nomadic  tribes. 
When  not  engaged  thus,  they  busy  themselves  with 
agricultural  pursuits.  Every  soldier  is  obliged  to 
serve,  and  the  practice  of  drawing  lots,  which  ob- 
tains with  other  portions  of  the  population,  does  not 
exist  among  them.  On  attaining  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen, a  Cossack  is  bound  to  join  the  preparatory 
category  of  the  army,  in  which  he  must  remain  for 
three  years;  during  this  period,  he  is  classed  as 
under-aged,  and  in  the  first  year  he  must  procure 
at  his  own  cost  a  horse,  uniform,  and  arms.     In 


104  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

the  second  and  third  years  the  young  soldier  is 
taught  to  ride,  to  shoot,  to  drill,  and  in  winter  he  is 
occupied  in  learning  to  read,  and  in  mastering  the 
military  regulations. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  the  young  Cossacks  are 
entered  for  service  in  the  field  regiments  of  the 
first  order,  in  which  they  serve  four  years.  After 
the  expiration  of  this  term  they  are  granted  leave 
of  absence  for  four  years,  being  then  considered 
as  belonging  to  regiments  of  the  second  order.  In 
this  time  of  comparative  rest  they  are  expected  to 
keep  uniforms  and  horses  in  good  condition,  and 
every  spring  to  undergo  a  month  of  military  train- 
ing. Thanks  to  this  system,  at  from  twenty-five 
to  thirty  years  of  age  they  are  experienced,  and 
well  acquainted  with  military  demands,  ready  to 
serve  their  country  at  a  moment's  notice. 

After  four  years  with  the  troops  of  the  second 
order,  the  Cossack  is  entered  again  for  service  in 
regiments  of  the  third  order;  while  here,  he  is  only 
expected  to  furnish  uniform  and  arms;  his  horse, 
which  costs  about  £4  or  £5  in  South  Russia,  must 
be  forthcoming  when  he  is  called  up  for  active 
service.  Completing  this  term,  he  is  classed  among 
the  reserves;  of  these  there  are  a  great  many,  prob- 
ably equal  in  number  to  their  confreres  in  harness. 
Five  years  in  the  Reserves  brings  him  the  status 


THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES     105 
of   the   "Opolchina,"   a  division  corresponding  to 
the  German  Landsturm.     Of  these  there  are  over 
four  milHons  in  Russia.    It  will  be  seen  that  a  Cos- 
sack actually  serves  his  country  for  twenty  years, 
ever  ready  with  horse,  sword,  rifle,  and  lance  to 
fight  for  the  Tsar,  the  country,  and  the  true  faith, 
stnce  the  Turkish  War,  a  considerable  number  of 
Cossacks  have  been  trained  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  regular  army,  and  thanks  to  this  superior  pro- 
cess a  great  part  of  what  was  once  a  purely  irregu- 
lar force  may  now  be  regarded  as  regular  mounted 
infantry.     Their  great  use   was  signally  exempli- 
fied  in  the  fighting   round  Tientsin  and  in  Man- 
churia, where  they  proved  of  inestimable  value. 

In  stature  and  strength,  the  Siberian  Cossacks 
and  regulars  are  almost  giants  in  comparison  with 
their  European  comrades;  but,  with  all  their  brav- 
ery and  hardihood,  they  are  more  fit  to  cope  with 
Tartars,  Turcomans,  and  savage  races  than  with 
the  differently  trained   forces  of  western  Europe. 
If  we  evince  enthusiasm  for  a  Cossack  to  whom 
riding  is  more  natural  than  walking,  what  measure 
of  praise  should  be  awarded  to  the  "Kazatchka" 
(Cossack  woman),  Mme.  A.  Koodesheva,  who  ar- 
rived in  St.  Petersburg,  after  a  ride  of  12,000  versts 
(6000   miles),    from  Harbin,   in   Northern  Man- 
churia, where  they  proved  of  inestimable  value. 


io6  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

forests,  infested  with  wild  animals,  fugitive  out- 
laws, and  convicts,  at  war  with  man  and  society. 

Mme.  Koodesheva  is  a  widow  of  the  former  com- 
mander of  the  Orenburg  Cossacks.  As  the  wife  of 
a  Cossack,  she  has  probably  been  at  home  in  the 
saddle  from  her  earliest  years ;  for  among  her  hardy 
race  the  very  children  are  able  to  ride  almost  as 
soon  as  they  can  walk.  Her  wonderful  ride,  which 
outrivals  the  feats  of  Dick  Turpin,  Paul  Revere, 
Captain  Burnaby,  Nicholas  Pjeskoff,  and  all  the 
other  heroes  of  the  saddle,  is  described  by  her  as 
follows : — 

"On  May  2  I  set  out  for  Harbin  by  the  old  Mos- 
cow-Siberian road  ('Sibersky  Tract'),  taking  the 
route  along  the  line,  which  was  occupied  by  the 
Siberian  frontier  guard.  My  horse,.  'Mongolek,' 
was  quite  untamed,  and  had  only  been  once  under 
the  saddle  previously.  She  carried  in  all  a  weight 
of  about  four  poods  (144  lb.),  which  included  my- 
self and  my  impedimenta.  My  only  other  com- 
panion was  'Faraf,'  my  St.  Bernard,  but  I  was 
obliged  to  leave  him  behind  in  Tchita,  as  it  was  im- 
possible to  feed  him,  food  being  so  scarce. 

"In  Manchuria  heavy  rains  had  fallen,  and  in 
many  places  the  roads  had  been  completely  spoilt, 
which  made   riding  exceedingly  difficult. 

"The  further  I  went  the  worse  it  got;  the  road 


THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES     107 

was  entirely  ruined,  and  it  was  nothing  but  bog 
and  taiga  (primeval  forest)  for  days  on  end.  The 
worst,  however,  was  to  follow,  for  between  the  sta- 
tions of  Soodshansk  and  Bolotnoi,  on  the  great  Si- 
berian highway,  I  was  obliged  to  ride  all  alone,  a 
distance  of  thirty  miles  through  the  forest  paths 
made  by  the  'Brodjagee.'  ^  It  is  true  I  had  with  me 
a  revolver  and  a  dagger.  Once  I  met  some  vaga- 
bonds, who  accosted  me,  saying,  'Lady,  lady!  God 
will  reward  you  for  your  labours,  but  give  us  only 
some  tobacco!' 

"I  thereupon  threw  them  some  cigarettes,  but 
at  the  same  time  kept  them  at  a  distance.  From 
Bolotnoi  to  the  village  of  Koostel,  a  distance  of 
twelve  miles,  I  was  forced  to  take  guides.  Had  I 
not  done  so  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  pro- 
ceed, as  my  route  lay  through  the  most  awful  marsh 
and  bog  conceivable.  How  I  ever  got  through  I 
do  not  even  know  to  this  day! 

"Between  Tchita  and  Verchnioodinsk  I  crossed 
the  Yablonsk  mountain  range.  Here  and  there  were 
to  be  seen  the  rotting  mile  posts,  indicating  the 
remains  of  the  high  road,  but  all  around  there  was 
not  a  vestige  of  any  human  habitation.  Now  and 
then  I  happened  to  come  across  old  men  and  women, 
1  Brodjagee,  the  vagrants,  exiles,  murderers,  and  con- 
victs who  have  escaped  into  the  forests,  where  they  are 
frequently  a  source  of  great  danger  to  travellers. 


io8  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

who  had  formerly  been  employed  to  watch  the 
road. 

"I  had,  however,  the  good  fortune  to  come  across 
a  whole  caravan,  or  party  of  travellers,  in  the  very 
wilds  of  Siberia.  I  was  lying  outstretched  on  the 
ground  alongside  my  horse,  when  suddenly  I  seemed 
to  hear  a  voice  in  my  sleep : — 

"  *Ah,  what  a  nice  little  horse  and  a  lady  in  a 
Caucasian  coat  and  a  sheepskin  hat!' 

"I  glanced  around,  and  beheld,  to  my  surprise, 
a  lot  of  monks  with  crosses  on  their  chests.  They 
were  travelling  to  the  diocese  of  the  local  arch- 
bishop, accompanied  by  six  policemen,  and  the 
clerks  of  the  chancellery.  The  meeting  could  not 
possibly  have  been  more  opportune,  for  they  were 
able  to  feed  me  for  several  days  with  milk,  eggs, 
and  even  white  bread! 

"I  must  confess  that  at  the  beginning  of  my  jour- 
ney the  question  of  the  commissariat  did  not  worry 
me;  for  there  was  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  from 
the  Booryats  (of  Eastern  Siberia)  every  kind  of 
edible,  including  meat.  But,  later  on,  I  fared  badly, 
especially  among  the  Russians :  they  feed  the  whole 
year  round  on  rye  bread  and  tea.  They  drink  brick 
tea,  and  stew  it  in  large  pots.  Eggs  are  exceedingly 
dear,  and  cost  7,  8,  9,  and  10  copecks  each  (2d.). 
The  reason  for  the  high  price  is  to  be  found  in  the 


THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES     109 

fact  that  there  are  a  great  many  agents  buying 
them  up  for  the  EngHsh  exporting  firms,  also  be- 
cause the  natives  steal  the  eggs  and  sell  them  to 
the  English  at  a  good  price. 

"Starting  from  the  Government  of  Tobolsk  all  the 
people  seem  to  be  very  noisy  and  loquacious,  and 
at  the  same  time  they  are  also  more  impudent  and 
avaricious. 

"On  July  I  I  was  already  in  Irkutsk,  and  on 
August  25  was  at  Krasnoyark.  Here  I  remained 
some  days.  The  weather  suddenly  changed.  It 
rained  and  snowed  incessantly. 

"On  October  i  I  arrived  at  Omsk,  having  ridden 
4000  miles.  I  remained  in  Omsk  twenty  days,  and 
at  the  request  of  the  military  governor  set  out  again 
through  the  Cossack  settlements  of  the  second  di- 
vision of  the  Siberian  Cossack  forces.  The  offi- 
cers and  the  Cossacks  greeted  my  arrival  among 
them  with  ecstasy. 

"On  January  6  I  arrived  at  Tchelabinsk. 

"Towards  the  end  of  January  I  crossed  the  Urals. 
I  was,  however,  compelled  to  remain  a  short  time 
at  the  Satkin  Crown  Ironworks,  as  the  cold  was 
60  degrees  below  zero.  Every  one  was  astonished 
how  I  went  without  mittens,  or  my  'bashalik'  (Cau- 
casian hood).  But,  first  and  foremost,  I  thought 
of  my  horse. 


no  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

"In  March  I  saw  Kazan,  and  Nishni  Novgorod 
in  April.  But  on  April  29,  on  my  birthday,  and 
the  day  of  my  Angel  (name's  day),  a  great  mis- 
fortune befell  me!  At  Gorocovetz  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  Vladimir,  the  President  of  the  Local  Cir- 
cuit Court  came  out  to  meet  me.  His  velocipede 
frightened  my  horse  and  hurt  its  leg.  I  then  was 
obliged  to  attend  the  animal  ten  days  without  a 
veterinary  surgeon. 

"In  Moscow  I  was  met  by  the  officers  of  the 
185th  Don  Cossack  Regiment.  I  had  scarcely  ar- 
rived in  the  town  when  I  saw  crowds  of  people,  at- 
tracted by  the  experiments  in  aviation.  One  of  the 
crowd,  a  young  man,  on  seeing* me,  exclaimed: 

"  'Surely  we  have  enough  Cossack  hangmen 
without  having  "Kazatchkee"  (w^omen  Cossacks) 
also.' 

"I  lost  my  patience,  and  struck  him  with  my 
nagaika.^  The  incident  passed  as  if  nothing  had 
happened. 

"From  Moscow  I  travelled  by  short  stages.  At 
Klin  I  passed  many  automobilists  racing,  whilst 
at  Kretscach  I  first  saw  the  aeroplanes  flying; 
further  on,  at  Valdai,  in  the  Valdai  Hills,  the  mili- 
tary automobiles  were  racing  and  manceuvring. 

^"Nagaika,"  a  Cossack  whip,  which,  weighted  with  a 
bullet,  is  a  terrible  weapon,  and  cuts  like  a  sword. 


THE  COSSACKS  IN  MODERN  TIMES     iii 

"I  was  obliged  to  wait  three  whole  days,  because 
I  did  not  care  to  take  the  risk  of  having  my  horse 
frightened  and  lamed.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
she  had  carried  me  more  than  12,000  versts  ^  in  fif- 
teen months,  she  was  not  quite  accustomed  to  man- 
kind. .  .  .  Only  the  other  day  one  of  the  Cos- 
sacks endeavoured  to  mount  her,  when  she  gave 
him  a  nasty  fall. 

"See  how  I  take  care  of  'Mongolek,'  "  the  brave 
"Kazatchka"  exclaimed  when  talking  about  the 
virtues  of  her  trusty  companion.  "Look  at  her 
back!  It  is  quite  straight,  and  the  hair  is  even 
not  worn  ofif,  although  she  has  carried  me  12,000 
versts!  'Mongolek'  is  of  pure  Mongolian  breed:' 
light  grey  in  colour,  and  eight  years  old. 

"You  ask  me  what  is  the  object  of  my  journey? 
My  main  object  is  to  prove  to  the  Tsar  the  loyalty 
of  the  Cossack  women.  He  not  only  requires  Cos- 
sacks, but  'Kazatchkee'  (women  Cossacks),  who 
will  always  be  ready  to  join  in  the  defence  of  the 
fatherland.  I  have  received  permission,  by  the  way, 
to  present  'Mongolek'  to  the  Tsarevitch,  and  I  was 
desirous  of  proving  the  lasting  importance  of 
cavalry  in  general." 

^One  verst  equals  about  two-thirds  of  an  English  mile. 

Note  on  Cossacks. — The  word  Kazaks  originally  meant 
a  free-booter  and  is  of  very  ancient  origin.     The  Cos- 


112  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

sacks  are  a  very  mixed  race,  and  are  of  Tartar,  Turk, 
Caucasian,  Slavonic,  and  even  Gothic  origin.  Their 
present  military  organisation  dates  from  Peter  the  Great. 
"Once  a  Cossack  always  a  Cossack."  No  matter  how 
old  a  Cossack  is,  he  belongs  to  the  reserve  forces  of  the 
"National  Defence,"  and,  if  required,  accompanies  his 
sons  and  grandchildren  to  battle. 


THE  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS,  AND 
THE  REALISM  OF  THE  MANCEUVRES 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS,  AND 
THE  REALISM  OF  THE  MANCEUVRES 

THIS  enormous  army,  variously  estimated  as 
numbering  from  five  to  six  million  of  men, 
is  not  stationed,  we  must  remember,  solely  in  the 
European  area.  There  are,  as  I  have  already  said, 
forty  or  fifty  thousand  Frontier  Guards,  who  are 
permanently  on  the  Austrian,  German,  Armenian, 
Persian,  Roumanian,  and  other  boundaries,  with 
instructions  to  keep  out  smugglers,  and  to  prevent 
unauthorised  persons  without  passports  from  cross- 
ing the  border. 

Behind  the  Frontier  Guards  are  the  various  Army 
Corps,  stationed  in  the  different  military  circuits  of 
Kieff,  Warsaw,  Moscow,  Petersburg,  Riga,  Revel, 
and  Finland.  An  army  corps  usually  contains  from 
two  to  three  hundred  thousand  men ;  the  one  at  St. 
Petersburg  comprises  the  Guards,  the  flower  of 
the  forces.  There  are  generally  three  corps  stationed 
in  the  Caucasus,  and  four  cavalry  divisions,  without 
counting  the  Kuban  Cossacks.  Another  1 50,000  are 
115 


ii6  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

maintained    in    Central    Asia,    and    a   considerable 
force  holds  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  frontiers. 

If  the  reports  can  be  credited,  there  are  about  a 
million  troops  in  Finland  at  the  present  time,  as 
it  was  feared  that  the  Germans,  after  seizing  the 
Aland  Isles,  would  endeavour  to  march  on  St. 
Petersburg  through  the  Grand  Duchy.  Owing  to 
the  failure  of  the  projected  campaign  in  East  Prus- 
sia, this  plan  has  probably  fallen  through.  It  is 
hardly  to  be  doubted  that  an  attack  on  Finland  was 
contemplated,  for  the  great  manoeuvres  in  that  coun- 
try, which  I  attended  for  several  summers  in  suc- 
cession, were  specially  arranged  in  view  of  a  sup- 
posed attack  on  the  Grand  Duchy  by  the  Germans. 
The  evolutions  were  carried  through  with  such  in- 
tense realism  that  infantry  soldiers  were  found  dead 
in  the  forests  round  my  brother's  estate.  The  com- 
missariat waggons,  owing  to  the  rapid  forced 
marches,  could  not  keep  pace  with  the  troops ; 
with  the  result  that  many  men  succumbed,  com- 
pletely worn  out  by  heat,  hunger,  and  exhaustion. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  hospitality  shown  to  these 
unfortunates  by  English  residents,  some  of  whom 
have  villas  in  Finland,  many  more  would  undoubt- 
edly have  perished.  I  give  this  little  incident  simply 
to  show  with  what  rigid  reality  the  Army's  manoeu- 
vres are  carried  out. 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS     117 

In  the  capital,  and  in  centres  such  as  Lodz  and 
Warsaw,  where  there  are  huge  industrial  popula- 
tions and  often  numbers  of  disaffected  inhabitants, 
large  bodies  of  troops  have  necessarily  to  be  quar- 
tered. 

The  need  for  keeping  so  many  divisions  in  Fin- 
land, the  Baltic  Provinces,  Odessa,  Central  Asia, 
Manchuria,  and  many  other  danger-spots,  with  the 
object  of  maintaining  order  among  the  native 
people  and  of  guarding  against  revolutionary 
outbreaks,  considerably  diminishes  the  figliting 
strength  of  the  Army  as  a  whole.  In  the  Japanese 
War  so  many  men  were  left  at  home  for  this  pur- 
pose that  Russia  practically  lost  the  day  through 
sheer  inability  to  utilise  the  tremendous  military 
powers  which  she  undoubtedly  possesses. 

The  manoeuvres  of  the  Army  generally  take  place 
every  summer  and  are  carried  out  on  a  scale  un- 
known in  England.  Every  year  the  Guards  manoeu- 
vre around  Petrograd  and  Tsarkoe  Selo,  but  at 
times  the  operations  of  this  and  other  crack  regi- 
ments extend  the  whole  distance  between  the  capi- 
tal and  the  ancient  fortress  of  Narva,  the  scene  of 
the  victory  of  Charles  XII  over  the  Russian  Army. 
These  grand  evolutions,  which  I  often  visited,  were 
carried  on  with  at  least  200,000  men — 100,000  on 
each  side.    The  Tsar  and  the  Grand  Dukes  usually 


Ii8  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

attend  and  inspire -the  troops  under  their  command. 
The  conditions  are  made  to  resemble  those  of  actual 
warfare  as  nearly  as  possible.  Cavalry  swim 
through  deep  rivers,  and  divisions  of  the  infantry 
also,  with  the  result  that  many  an  unfortunate  sol- 
dier is  drowned  or  expires  from  exhaustion.  The 
Grand  Dukes  follow  on  horseback ;  though  reared  in 
luxury,  they  have  frequently  to  undergo  the  fatigue 
and  strain  of  the  ordinary  soldier. 

Exceedingly  important  tests  have  also  been  car- 
ried out  at  Koorsk  in  South  Russia,  on  a  scale  equal 
in  magnitude  to  those  already  referred  to.  The  op- 
erations I  witnessed  in  Narva  covered  an  extent  of 
territory  equal  to  the  combined  area  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  The  Finnish  manoeuvres 
were  also  extremely  realistic. 

For  many  years  the  Russian  troops  have  been 
executing  a  series  of  manceuvres  in  those  parts  of 
the  Empire  which  were  liable  to  be  invaded.  We 
need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  if  the  German 
armies  endeavour  to  invade  Finland  or  the  Baltic 
provinces;  the  Russians  have  long  been  ready  for 
such  a  contingency. 

The  greatest  manoeuvres  I  ever  saw  took  place 
between  Krasno  Selo  and  Narva.  About  200,000 
men  were  present  on  this  occasion.  Half  of  them 
were  supposed  to  be  Germans  or  a  foreign  army 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS     119 

endeavouring  to  march  on  Petrograd ;  the  other  half 
represented  the  force  of  defence.  The  Emperor 
and  Grand  Dukes  took  an  active  part  in  these  opera- 
tions, which  lasted  several  w^eeks.  Owing  to  the 
courtesy  of  the  military  authorities,  I  and  several 
other  correspondents  were  furnished  with  passes 
•and  permitted  to  watch  the  operations  at  close  quar- 
ters. The  Grand  Dukes,  especially  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas,  the  elder  (father  of  the  present  Grand 
Duke),  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  proceedings. 
Later  on  I  witnessed  the  manoeuvres  in  Finland,  at 
which  the  Tsar  was  present. 

The  Finnish  troops,  which  have  since  been  dis- 
banded, took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Wilhelmstrand 
manoeuvres,  and  won  the  admiration  of  an  old  colo- 
nel who  was  with  me.  But  these  troops  were  not 
popular  with  the  Russian  regiments  of  the  Guard, 
and  had  they  not  been  disbanded  it  is  quite  possible 
that  blood  would  have  flowed  on  both  sides  long 
before  this.  The  Finnish  people,  as  we  have  seen, 
no  longer  support  their  own  military,  which  during 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  with  Germany  played  such 
a  glorious  part,  proving  so  hardy  and  brave  that 
they  were  generally  used  for  forlorn  hopes  or  when 
no  other  troops  would  carry  out  desperate  assaults 
and  charges.  During  these  interesting  operations, 
carried  on  with  all  the  grim  realism  of  war,  a  per- 


I20  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

tion  of  the  forces  occupied  Pskoff,  once  the  capital 
of  one  of  the  most  powerful  repubHcs  in  Russia,  but 
now  a  sleepy  provincial  town.  Here  an  officer  of 
the  gendarmes  wanted  to  arrest  me,  for  he  could 
not  understand  what  I,  an  Englishman,  had  to  do 
with  Russian  manoeuvres.  (The  English  were  then 
very  unpopular  in  Russia.)  Judging  from  the  ques- 
tions he  put  to  me  he  was  not  conscious  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  English  Press,  which  I  then  repre- 
sented. 

The  famous  Preolrashensk  regiment,  founded  by 
Peter  the  Great,  and  the  artillery  of  the  Guards, 
with  other  regiments,  numbering  about  60,000  men, 
paraded  before  the  Tsar  and  the  Grand  Dukes.  It 
was  a  brilliant  spectacle  as  thousands  of  these  fine 
stalwart  men,  the  pick  of  the  Empire,  passed  before 
their  "Little  Father"  and  the  members  of  the  staff 
who  stood  around  him.  Pskoff  was  simply  packed 
with  military ;  there  were  about  two  soldiers  to  every 
civilian.  Never  since  the  day  when  the  brave  in- 
habitants endured  a  three  months'  siege  by  the 
forces  of  Stephan  Batroi  had  this  once  famous  city 
seen  such  a  concourse  of  fighting  men.  When  we 
remember  that  the  King  of  Poland  had  150,000 
men  with  him  and  could  not  with  all  this  force 
take  the  town,  we  can  form  an  idea  of  the  strength 
of  this  ancient  republic,  the  sister  of  Novgorod  the 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS     121 

Great,  "My  Lord  Novgorod."  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
with  his  brave  amiy  of  Swedes  who  defeated  Tilly 
and  Wallenstein,  had  no  better  luck,  and  was  forced 
to  retire  from  the  battered  walls.  Now  Tilly,  Wal- 
lenstein and  the  chivalrous  Gustavus  are  no  more; 
but  Pskoff  still  stands,  a  shadow  and  wreck  of  its 
former  might  and  glory.  The  city  is  full  of  ancient 
churches  and  monasteries,  dating  from  the  days 
when  Varangian  (Viking)  Grand  Dukes  ruled  over 
Russia,  but  in  these  pages  this  time  must  be  passed 
over  in  silence. 

What  particularly  impressed  me  throughout  the 
manoeuvres  was  the  great  interest  the  Tsar  and 
the  Grand  Dukes  took  in  military  matters.  They 
did  not  spare  themselves  in  the  least,  several  of 
them  undergoing  all  the  hardships,  trouble  and  toil 
of  a  simple  officer.  Finest  of  all,  perhaps,  was  the 
old  Grand  Duke  Michael,  the  son  of  the  Tsar  Nicho- 
las. When  last  I  saw  him,  although  he  was  over 
seventy  years  of  age,  he  marched  at  the  head  of 
his  regiment  of  artillery,  equal  in  every  way  to  a 
much  younger  man.  Like  the  iron  emperor,  Nicho- 
las, he  delighted  in  the  rough  life  of  a  soldier.  His 
food,  during  the  manoeuvres,  was  of  the  simplest, 
and  he  slept  in  a  rough  iron  bedstead  that  many  a 
private  would  not  care  to  rest  in.  He  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  Europe,  and, 


122  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

although  his  estates  in  Russia  occupied  the  space 
of  many  EngHsh  counties,  he  evidently  was  only  too 
delighted  to  escape  from  the  pomp  and  luxury  of 
his  exalted  position  and  to  rough  it  once  more  with 
the  men,  who  almost  worshipped  the  ground  he  trod 
upon.  He  was  not  only  head  of  all  the  Orders  of 
the  Russian  Empire,  but  also  of  all  the  Russian 
artillery,  which  then  numbered  6000  pieces.  After 
witnessing  the  performances  of  his  gunners  he  used 
to  call  up  the  soldiers  and  distribute  new  silver 
roubles  and  silver  watches,  which  were  greatly 
prized — "for  had  not  the  Grand  Duke  presented 
them  with  his  own  hands  ?" 

The  Grand  Duke  Vladimir,  the  Tsar's  uncle,  was 
equally  in  evidence.  Although  he  was  very  hand- 
some, and  brave  to  temerity,  he  was  not  so  popular 
with  his  officers  and  men  as  the  veteran  Grand 
Duke,  who  took  such  a  prominent  part  in  the  cam- 
paign in  Asia  Minor  during  the  last  Russo-Turkish 
War. 

There  was  also  the  Grand  Duke  Paul,  then  Com- 
mander of  the  Guard,  tall  and  erect  as  a  pine-tree ; 
the  afTable  and  cultivated  Duke  Constantine,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Academy  of  Sciences;  but  the  space  and 
time  at  my  disposal  do  not  permit  me  to  describe  all 
these  eminent  personages  in  detail. 

Each  day,  after  all  the  manoeuvres,  parades  and 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS      123 

marches  were  over,  there  was  a  grand  rehgious  and 
mihtary  ceremony  called  the  "Objezd  Lager,"  or 
ride  round  the  camp — which  was  sometimes  several 
miles  in  circumference.  The  troops  were  without 
side-arms  on  these  occasions. 

After  inspecting  the  various  regiments,  the  Tsar 
received  the  reports  of  his  officers.  Then,  at  a  given 
signal,  about  five  hundred  cannon  were  fired  simul- 
taneously, while  a  thousand  musicians  and  drum- 
mers struck  up  the  "Koln  Slavjan,"  a  Russian  na- 
tional hymn.  All  the  military  present,  from  the  Em- 
peror to  the  humblest  private  soldier,  then  intoned 
the  Lord's  Prayer.  The  effect  of  this  ceremony 
was  impressive  beyond  words.  Anyone  who  wishes 
to  see  it  to  perfection  must  visit  the  camp  at  Tsars- 
koe  Selo,  for  naturally  when  the  Tsar  and  the  Grand 
Dukes  are  present  it  is  far  more  striking  than  on 
ordinary  occasions. 

After  watching  the  manoeuvres  at  Krasno,  the 
scene  of  operations  was  transferred  to  the  Finnish 
coast,  opposite  Cronstadt.  This  was  after  the  op- 
posing forces  had  come  into  contact  outside  Krasno, 
where  the  great  mock  battle  was  fought  which  was 
to  decide  the  fate  of  St.  Petersburg.  As  might  be 
anticipated,  the  invading  army  was  driven  back  after 
a  stubborn  contest,  thanks  to  the  prowess  of  the  Im- 
perial Guards,  the  flower  of  the  army.    While  this 


124  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

struggle  was  going  on  all  round  Krasno,  another 
section  of  the  invading  troops  made  a  descent  on 
the  coast  of  Finland,  and  occupied  the  road  right 
up  to  St.  Petersburg,  or  Petrograd,  as  it  is  now 
called.  Important  bridges  were  taken  by  assault, 
and  the  conditions  of  actual  warfare  were  repre- 
sented as  closely  as  possible. 

Many  soldiers  collapsed  at  these  evolutions  on  the 
grand  scale  in  consequence  of  the  unusual  strain. 
The  heat  was  terrific,  and  after  the  troops  had 
passed  eastward  several  of  my  friends  informed  me 
that  they  found  men  lying  completely  prostrate. 
Russian  soldiers  are  trained  in  such  a  manner 
that  they  are  expected  to  accustom  themselves 
to  actual  war  conditions,  so  that  they  shall  be 
able  to  take  the  field  at  a  moment's  notice  against 
any  enemy. 

During  all  these  operations,  I  may  say,  the  tem- 
perature was  much  higher  than  anything  we  are  ac- 
customed to  experience  in  England.  The  men  were 
dressed,  however,  to  withstand  the  heat.  The  ma- 
jority of  them  wore  clean  white  linen  blouses,  black 
trousers,  top-boots,  and  a  round  cap,  and  the  entire 
outfit  only  cost  the  Government  a  very  small  sum 
per  man.  Nothing  more  practical  or  economical 
have  I  seen  in  any  army,  and  were  the  system 
adapted  to  this  country  and  our  colonies,   there 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  TROOPS     125 

would  be  a  great  saving  to  the  nation  and  increased 
comfort  to  the  soldiers,  who,  during  the  summer 
months,  find  it  a  trying  matter  to  march  and  manoeu- 
vre in  the  present  tight-fitting  uniforms. 


BAYONET   AND   SWORD 


CHAPTER    X 
BAYONET   AND   SWORD 

DURING  my  residence  at  St.  Petersburg,  I 
often  attended  the  School  of  Arms,  and 
from  what  I  saw  there  was  not  much  impressed  by 
the  performance  of  the  officers  as  swordsmen.  Great 
attention,  however,  was  given  to  bayonet-practice. 
The  bayonet  is  undoubtedly  the  favourite  weapon 
of  the  Russian  soldier,  and  in  his  heavy  hands  it 
is  extremely  effective.  It  was  Suvoroff's  weapon, 
as  we  have  seen.  In  the  present  war  it  is  playing 
an  unexpected  part,  and  the  time  and  trouble  spent 
on  bayonet  tactics  evidently  have  not  been  wasted. 
The  Russians,  being  heavy  of  build,  always  en- 
deavour when  fighting  to  get  to  close  quarters,  so 
that  their  generally  superior  weight  may  tell.  In 
the  last  war,  Japanese  nimbleness  and  staying  pow- 
ers were  sometimes  more  than  a  match,  however, 
for  the  strength  and  weight  of  their  opponents.  In 
recent  encounters  with  the  Austrians  the  bayonet 
made  havoc  with  their  ranks,  and  will  again  when- 

129 


I30  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

ever  the  stolid  soldier  of  the  Tsar  faces  his  en- 
emy. 

Russian  commanders  have  such  great  belief  in 
the  "Shtyck,"  as  they  call  it,  that  much  time  is  given 
to  teaching  its  use.  In  an  engagement  the  infantry 
always  march  with  bayonets  screwed  on  the  end 
of  their  rifles;  they  are  so  used  to  this  that  the  in- 
creased weight  does  not  interfere  with  the  accuracy 
of  firing.  As  a  rule,  they  prepare  to  use  the  wea- 
pon directly  they  come  within  150  yards  of  the  front 
ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  do  not  "fix  bayonets"  at  the 
last  moment,  as  is  the  custom  in  some  European 
armies.  This  is  an  unwise  practice,  as  in  the  excite- 
ment of  attack  a  soldier  is  apt  to  forget  all  about 
his  bayonet  until  it  is  too  late  to  affix  it.  The  Japa- 
nese, who  are  very  skilful  in  the  use  of  this  arm, 
usually  affix  it  when  about  350  feet  from  the  an- 
tagonist, with  the  result  that  the  Russians,  in  the 
last  war,  often  forestalled  them  by  rushing  to  the 
counter-attack  before  the  Japs  were  ready  to  engage. 

Experience  has  shown  that  when  the  attacking 
party  is  able  to  approach  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  opponent  the  shooting  of  the  latter  has  very 
little  effect,  for  the  troops,  unless  unusually  cool 
and  well  disciplined,  begin  to  fire  wildly  directly 
the  enemy  comes  to  such  close  quarters.  Russian 
soldiers  therefore  make  it  a  general  rule  to  advance 


BAYONET  AND  SWORD  131 

to  the  counter-attack  with  the  bayonet  as  soon  as 
possible.  Generally,  these  tactics  are  extremely  suc- 
cessful. 

The  Guards,  who  are  always  stationed  in  and 
round  the  capital,  are  specially  trained  in  the  use 
of  this  formidable  weapon,  and  when  things  look 
very  black  these  splendid  troops,  who  with  the  Rou- 
manians took  the  almost  impregnable  fortress  of 
Plevna  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  are  called  out 
as  a  dernier  ressort.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  the 
Guards  were  not  ordered  out  to  the  Far  East  in 
the  Japanese  campaign  until  all  chances  of  victory 
had  vanished.  But  in  the  present  war  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  they  are  being  used  in  East  Prus- 
sia. If  this  is  the  case,  it  is  quite  easy  to  understand 
why  the  Germans  have  had  to  retreat  and  to  en- 
trench themselves  in  their  second  line  of  defence. 

As  swordsmen,  if  the  Russians  do  not  seem  bril- 
liant, the  Cossacks  are  and  always  have  been  very 
skilful.  Their  favourite  weapon,  however,  is  the 
long  lance,  which  they  wield  with  deadly  dexterity. 
Many  of  them  are  also  expert  with  the  lasso,  throw- 
ing it  for  a  surprising  distance  and  capturing  the 
foe  alive,  if  a  trifle  bruised,  whenever  they  choose. 

In  shooting  with  the  carbine,  or  short  rifle,  the 
Cossacks  are  extremely  efficient,  and  often,  on  ac- 
count of  their  coolness  and  their  marvellous  eye- 


132  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

sight,  are  employed  as  sharp-shooters  to  pick  off 
items  of  the  enemy's  forces  from  a  distance.  There 
is  Httle  doubt,  however,  that  the  chief  power  of 
the  Russian  soldier  lies  in  his  bayonet,  not  in  the 
rifle,  which  is  rather  too  scientific  a  weapon  for  the 
village  peasant  to  handle;  he  has  not  the  requisite 
skill,  touch,  and  finesse  which  belong  to  French, 
Belgian,  or  English  soldiers.  Military  experts  hold 
the  opinion  that  the  Prussian  victory  at  Tannen- 
berg,  in  East  Prussia,  was  solely  due  to  the  su- 
periority of  the  German  cannon  taken  from  the 
fortresses  of  Thorn  and  Gaudenetz,  and  to  the  new 
inventions  of  Krupp,  which  have  shown  their  ad- 
vantage over  the  Russian  Horse  Artillery,  con- 
structed on  French  models. 


LIABILITY  TO   SERVE 


CHAPTER   XI 
LIABILITY  TO  SERVE 

THE  number  of  men  to  be  called  to  the  colours 
annually  is  decided  by  the  Imperial  Senate, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  Minister  of  War. 
Theoretically,  the  entire  male  population  between 
the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  forty-four  years  is  liable 
to  serve,  either  in  the  regulars  or  in  the  militia; 
but  there  are  many  causes  of  exemption. 

Speaking  broadly,  the  term  of  service  in  the  first 
line,  or  active  army,  is  three  years  in  the  infantry, 
field  and  fort  artillery,  four  years  in  the  other  de- 
partments of  the  Army.  The  soldier  then  enters 
the  reserve,  in  which  he  remains  for  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years,  undergoing  during  this  period  two 
trainings  per  annum  of  six  weeks  each.  Having 
completed  eighteen  years  in  the  first  line  of  the  re- 
serve, he  passes  to  the  militia  or  last  reserve.  Ser- 
vice here  is  for  five  years — i.e.  until  the  soldier  at- 
tains the  age  of  forty-three. 

The  Territorial  Army  is  organised  into  groups 
of  Regulars,  Cossacks,  Militia  and  Landsturm.    On 

135 


136  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

a  peace  footing  the  Cossacks  are  only  maintained 
at  one-third  of  their  proper  war  strength.  A  Rus- 
sian regiment  probably  contains  more  men  than 
that  of  any  other  country  when  on  a  peace  footing; 
including  officers,  musicians,  non-commissioned  of- 
ficers and  men,  it  numbers  1900;  but  in  war  time 
this  increases  to  4000,  A  regiment  of  cavalry  usu- 
ally consists  of  six  squadrons;  a  squadron  com- 
prises 1000  men  and  900  horses,  exclusive  of  of- 
ficers. Cossack  regiments  consist  of  six  **sotmas,"  or 
hundreds,  of  horsemen — 600  men.  The  Cossacks, 
unlike  the  cavalry,  have  preserved  their  own  na- 
tional organisation,  and  have  not  copied  the  military 
organisation  of  others. 

I  should  say  that  at  least  65  per  cent  of  the  con- 
scripts, when  they  join,  can  neither  read  nor  write. 
The  percentage  of  illiterates  among  the  people  at 
large  is  still  greater.  The  officers  have  then  to  teach 
these  ignorant  men  their  alphabet,  the  three  R's,  and 
other  elements  of  education,  and  considering  that 
some  of  the  poor  fellows  are  little  better  than  bar- 
barians, the  task  is  not  an  easy  one.  There  is  small 
doubt  that  the  Government,  which  since  the  days 
of  Nicholas  I  has  kept  the  people  in  ignorance,  is 
much  to  blame- for  the  backward  state  of  the  masses. 
Russian  officers  have  told  me  that  some  of  the  re- 
cruits from  outlying  districts  do  not  even  know  their 


LIABILITY  TO  SERVE  137 

left  leg  from  their  right,  and  that  in  order  to  en- 
lighten them  a  wisp  of  straw  had  to  be  tied  to  one 
leg,  a  wisp  of  hay  to  the  other.  Then,  by  degrees, 
with  the  repeated  call  of  "Hay"  or  "Straw"  they 
mastered  this  intricate  problem!  Such  exceptional 
cases,  however,  were  probably  Finns,  not  true  Rus- 
sians or  Tartars,  for  both  these  races  are  very  in- 
telligent. Many  of  the  Finns  settled  along  the 
course  of  the  Volga  are  practically  heathen,  and  as- 
tonishingly dense.  The  soldier  on  the  average  is 
not  so  backward  as  in  the  Turkish  war.  In  these 
days  he  reads  the  newspapers;  in  the  last  genera- 
tion he  could  only  smoke  them— -i.e.  convert  them 
into  cigarette-papers. 

Roughly  speaking,  the  terms  of  service  vary  ac- 
cording to  education.  If  a  man  has  passed  through 
the  university,  he  serves  two  years  in  the  line  and 
sixteen  in  the  reserves;  if  through  the  secondary 
schools,  he  does  three  years  and  fifteen  respectively; 
but  if  he  has  been  brought  up  in  the  national  schools 
he  must  put  in  his  full  time.  Professors  and  learned 
men  whose  accomplishments  are  exceptionally  valu- 
able to  the  State  are  generally  free  from  military 

duties. 

Universal  service  was  first  established  by  law  on 

i    the  first  of  January,  1874.    The  practice  of  paying 

the  Crown  a  certain  sum  to  be  exempt  is  not  per- 


138  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

mitted;  but  it  sometimes  happens  that  doctors  can 
be  bribed  to  give  certificates  of  ill-health  which 
would  free  the  recalcitrant  conscript  from  his  du- 
ties. I  believe,  however,  that  this  practice  is  rare; 
according  to  my  experience  neither  rank  nor  for- 
tune can  be  used  to  prevent  a  man  from  serving  his 
country  when  required  to  do  so.  I  have,  in  fact, 
known  cases  both  of  poor  men's  sons  and  of  the  sons 
of  wealthy  people  dying  from  their  exertions  at  the 
manoeuvres;  the  more  favoured  ones  of  society  be- 
ing treated  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  the  poorer 
men. 

The  liability  of  the  Cossacks  to  serve  is  on  quite 
a  different  footing  from  the  regulars.  Their  term 
of  service  is  for  life,  and  affects  the  whole  civil  life 
of  the  community.  They  are  still,  as  in  olden  times, 
a  nation  of  soldiers.  For  this  reason  they  enjoy  the 
use  of  the  Crown  Lands  in  Russia  and  Siberia  on 
very  advantageous  conditions,  and  are  freed  from 
direct  taxation;  they  have  also  other  valuable  priv- 
ileges which  the  Great  Russians  do  not  possess. 

Exemption  from  service  in  the  Army  is  as  fol- 
lows, generally  speaking.  •  Those  who  are  unable  to 
work  in  consequence  of  wounds,  sickness,  or  de- 
formity need  not  serve.  The  only  son  of  a  widowed 
mother,  and  the  only  son  among  several  brothers 
who  is  able  to  work,  or  who  is  one  of  a  family. 


LIABILITY  TO  SERVE  139 

of  orphans ;  or  the  only  grandson,  living  with  grand- 
parents who  have  no  son  to  support  them :  these  are 
exempt.  An  illegitimate  son  who  is  cared  for  by 
his  mother,  in  the  event  of  there  being  no  other 
son  capable  of  working  for  her,  is  free ;  and  exiles 
also  need  not  serve. 

Many  of  the  aborigines  of  Siberia,  belonging  to 
Tobolsk,  Tomsk,  Yenesiesk,  Yakutsk,  and  Kams- 
chatka,  are  exempt  from  service;  the  inhabitants 
of  Turkestan  and  subjects  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Finland  are  excluded,  but  in  place  of  military  duties 
they  have  to  pay  an  annual  contribution  to  the  Im- 
perial Exchequer.  The  Finns  are  not  considered 
sufficiently  loyal  to  be  enrolled ;  they  also  pay  a  mili- 
tary tax.  Since  19 12  this  tax  has  been  increased 
annually,  until  it  now  amounts  to  16  million  marks 
(£640,000).  The  Caucasians,  who  are  even  more 
unreliable  than  the  Finns,  also  contribute  in  the 
same  way  an  exemption-tax.  With  the  Cossacks, 
reasons  for  exemption  are  practically  the  same  as 
among  the  regular  troops.  There  are  so  many  of 
these  opportunities  for  evading  service,  that  one 
cannot  say  that  conscription  presses  so  hardly  upon 
the  Russian  people  as  it  does  upon  other  nations  in 
Europe,  such  as  the  Germans,  Austrians,  French  and 
Italians. 

Service  in  the  land  forces  is  as  follows :  for  those 


140  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

who  enter  the  infantry  and  Hght  artillery,  three 
years;  for  those  who  enter  all  other  branches  (in- 
cluding the  flotilla),  four  years.  Service  in  the  re- 
serves is  divided  into  two  categories,  of  which  the 
second  is  intended  exclusively  for  filling  up  the  sec- 
ondary troops  and  the  rear  establishments.  It  termi- 
nates when  the  soldier  attains  his  thirty-ninth  year, 
after  which  he  is  in  the  militia.  Persons  who  enter 
the  service  after  the  year  in  which  they  are  called  to 
arms  have  to  make  good  the  time  lost  by  joining  the 
reserves,  but  not  after  the  age  of  forty-three,  for 
then  they  retire  from  the  military  life.  All  who 
can  bear  arms  are  liable  for  the  militia,  also  all  who 
have  escaped  service  in  the  regular  army  when  lots 
were  drawn.  Volunteers  are  obliged  to  serve  eigh- 
teen years — two  years  in  the  line  and  sixteen  in  the 
reserves.  In  the  event  of  a  volunteer  passing  the 
officers'  examination,  his  term  of  service  is  short- 
ened still  more,  to  twenty  months.  The  volunteers 
have  also  the  privilege  of  living  in  the  officers'  quar- 
ters during  a  portion  of  their  time  of  active  service. 
Those  who  pay  for  their  keep  and  clothing  have 
many  favours,  and  for  this  class  the  life  is  not  half 
so  severe  as  it  is  under  ordinary  conditions. 


DISCIPLINE 


CHAPTER   XII 
DISCIPLINE 

IN  spite  of  the  friendly,  almost  fatherly  spirit 
existing  between  the  officers  and  their  subordi- 
nates I  should  say  that  the  discipline  in  the  Rus- 
sian Army  is  more  severe  than  in  any  other  Euro- 
pean force.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  picture  in  the 
Imperial  Academy  of  Arts,  at  St.  Petersburg, 
representing  an  incident  that  occurred  in  one  of 
the  many  wars  against  Persia.  In  this  particular 
conflict  it  was  found  impossible  to  transport  the 
artillery  across  some  deep  fissures  in  the  roads  over 
which  the  guns  must  pass  before  they  could  be 
placed  in  position.  As  the  ground  was  rocky,  and 
there  was  no  earth  or  loose  timber  to  fill  the  wide 
cracks,  the  officer  in  charge  was  at  his  wits'  end  to 
know  how  to  get  each  heavy  piece  over  the  difficult 
bit  of  road.  In  desperation,  he  finally  asked  if  any 
of  his  men  would  sacrifice  themselves  by  lying  down 
in  the  hollow  and  letting  the  guns  proceed  over 
their  recumbent  bodies.  Strange  to  say,  about  a 
dozen  came  forward  to  volunteer  for  this  dreadful 

143 


144  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

task;  uncomplaining,  they  allowed  the  heavy  ar- 
tillery to  roll  across  their  quivering  bodies,  out 
of  which  the  blood  and  life  were  soon  crushed 
by  the  unpitying  cannon.  To  such  lengths  goes  the 
spirit  of  obedience  and  self-sacrifice  ingrained  in  the 
soldiers  of  the  Tsar.  In  Russian  military  history 
many  similar  instances  are  chronicled — incidents 
which  make  us  Western  nations  almost  horror- 
stricken  at  the  unconcern  with  which  human  life  is 
treated.  During  the  reign  of  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
of  Paul,  and  of  Nicholas  other  events  took  place 
which  equal  in  vividness  the  one  I  have  mentioned. 

Being  half  an  Asiatic,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
fatalist,  the  soldier  sets  small  value  on  his  own  life 
or  on  that  of  another.  This,  with  his  want  of  nerves, 
makes  him  a  formidable  enemy,  and  when  properly 
trained,  fed,  and  led  he  is  capable  of  conquering 
the  most  cruel  or  ferocious  people  on  earth.  A  race 
that  could  hold  its  own  against  the  fierce  Tartars 
and  Mongols  for  centuries,  and  finally  subdue  them, 
can  accomplish  anything  in  the  way  of  heroism  and 
endurance. 

The  Russian  military  code  of  laws  is  even  more 
severe  than  the  German,  and  offences  which  in  Eng- 
land would  be  punished  with  imprisonment  or  ex- 
pulsion are  in  Russia  punishable  with  the  death 
penalty.     Disciplinary  punishment   is   inflicted  on 


DISCIPLINE  145 

the  rank  and  file,  and  on  the  commissioned  officers 
by  extra  service,  arrest,  expulsion  from  the  Army 
and  imprisonment.  During  my  seven  years'  resi- 
dence at  Cronstadt  executions  both  of  officers  and 
men  in  the  garrison  were  not  infrequent.  Most  of 
these  penalties  were  for  being  mixed  up  with  revo- 
lutionary propaganda  or  for  mutiny.  Soldiers  who 
in  a  state  of  intoxication  struck  their  superior  of- 
ficers were  shot  without  mercy.  At  Sveaborg,  ac- 
cording to  the  evidence  of  a  Finnish  engineer  who 
was  present  at  the  execution  of  the  mutinous  ar- 
tillerymen of  the  garrison,  every  second  man  was 
shot;  but  before  being  ranged  in  line  for  the  final 
tragic  scene  each  man  had  to  dig  his  own  grave. 

Those  who  do  not  suffer  death  are  often  sent  to 
Siberia  to  work  in  the  mines,  or  are  compelled  to 
join  a  disciplinary  battalion,  where  the  most  menial 
and  trying  labours  are  inflicted  on  delinquents — ■ 
frequently  so  arduous  that  the  men  do  not  survive. 

The  Superior  Court-Martial  is  in  St.  Petersburg, 
and  consists  of  generals  and  highly  placed  officers. 
This  court  has  power  to  imprison  offenders  in  a 
fortress,  to  sentence  them  to  exile  in  Siberia,  to 
expel  them  from  the  service,  to  degrade  them,  and 
to  condemn  them  to  death. 

In  this  short  work  it  is  impossible  to  give  in 
detail  the  various  punishments  meted  out  to  those 


146  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

who  infringe  the  mihtary  code.  Owing  to  their 
severity  the  discipHne  in  the  Russian  Army  is  the 
envy  of  all  those  martinets  who  set  little  or  no 
value  on  human  life  or  independence  of  spirit.  A 
slight  notion  of  its  range,  and  of  how  little  the  sol- 
dier troubles  about  killing  a  fellow-creature,  may 
be  obtained  from  a  curious  anecdote  related  to  me 
while  I  was  staying  at  the  camp  at  Krasno.  The 
victim  on  this  occasion  was  an  unfortunate  Jewish 
contractor,  who  used  to  supply  hay  and  provisions 
for  the  troops.  It  happened  that  one  day  he  was 
exceptionally  pertinacious,  sending  to  demand 
money  from  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  regiment. 
At  last  the  officer,  losing  patience  on  being  so  con- 
tinually importuned,  exclaimed  petulantly :  "Oh, 
hang  the  Jew!  I  am  too  busy  to  attend  to  him." 
The  soldiers  standing  by  took  the  officer  at  his 
word.  Seizing  the  Jew,  they  hauled  him  into  the 
open  and  hanged  him  there  and  then  without  any 
further  ado. 

A  few  minutes  after  they  returned,  jubilant,  and 
said  :  "Evrei  povjesen,  vash  blagorodni ! — The  Jew 
is  hanged,  your  high-born!"  "What?"  shouted  the 
officer,  horrified ;  "do  you  mean  that  you  have  killed 
the  man?" 

"Yes,  your  high-born!" 

*'Who  gave  you  that  permission?" 


DISCIPLINE  147 

"You  yourself,  your  high-born." 

It  was  of  no  use  explaining  to  the  men  that  his 
hasty  speech  had  been  merely  an  irritated  exclama- 
tion and  that  the  last  thing  he  had  meant  was  that 
the  Jew  should  be  really  hanged.  His  men  had  been 
brought  up  to  carry  out  every  order  immediately, 
without  asking  questions,  and  this  was  merely  the 
result  of  the  system.  Nothing  could  be  done,  so  a 
report  was  sent  to  the  highest  military  authorities 
explaining  how  the  mistake  had  occurred  with  the 
result  that  both  the  officer  and  the  men  who  had 
carried  out  his  "order"  were  imprisoned.  But  it 
was  not  for  long.  After  a  brief  term  of  confine- 
ment they  were  released.  The  men  were  rewarded 
for  their  obedience,  and  the  officer  was  promoted 
for  having  his  men  under  such  excellent  control ! 
Truly,  in  Russia  "Shezn  copjeke — Life  is  worth  a 
farthing!" 


OFFICERS  AND   FRIENDS  IN   HIGH 
PLACES 


CHAPTER  XIII 

OFFICERS    AND    FRIENDS    IN    HIGH 
PLACES 

MY  relations  with  Russian  officers  and  com- 
manders have  on  the  whole  been  exceed- 
ingly pleasant.  During  twenty-seven  years  spent 
in  many  parts  of  the  country  I  continually  came 
into  contact  with  officers  of  all  ranks,  from  the 
highest  general  to  the  simplest  rough  sergeant. 
"Speak  of  a  man  as  you  find  him"  is  an  excellent 
adage,  and  in  this  hasty  reminiscence  of  my  friends 
in  authority  I  shall  endeavour  to  hold  to  it. 
The  first  officer  of  notable  rank  I  met  was  bluff 

old  Admiral  K ,  the  former  Governor  of  Cron- 

stadt   with   its  enormous  garrison  of  40,000  men. 

Admiral  K ,  who  had  served  in  the  Far  East, 

was  of  Cossack  or  Little  Russian  origin.  His  bul- 
let-head, thick  neck,  massive  forehead,  broad  chest 
and  long,  drooping  moustache  reminded  me  of 
Taras  Bulba,  the  mighty  Cossack  Hetman  whose 
life  and  exploits  Gogol,  the  Dickens  of  Russia,  has 
recorded  in  one  of  his  finest  works. 

151 


152  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

I  also  made  the  acquaintance  of  another  admiral, 
the  coniniandant  of  the  fortress,  in  whom  the  late 
Alexander  III  liad  the  most  implicit  faith.  In  this 
he  was  justified,  for  a  more  trusty  and  honourable 
servant  could  not  be  found  than  this  kindly  old 
sea-dog,  now,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  gone  to  his  fathers. 
Before  leaving  Cronstadt  for  good,  this  admiral 
invited  me  to  a  splendid  lunch,  and  took  me  over 
some  of  the  forts.  On  expressing  my  surprise  that 
he  should  show  me,  an  Englishman,  this  favour,  he 
replied:  "We  have  no  Dreyfus  here!" — alluding 
to  the  fact  that  Jews  were  not  tlien  allowed  to  serve 
in  the  Army.  But  the  sly  old  sailor  did  not  show 
me  the  newer  forts  he  had  secretly  built  about  ten 
miles  outside  the  city  at  a  cost  of  several  million 
pounds,  "for  his  friends  the  English,"  as  he  jok- 
ingly remarked,  "the  next  time  they  pay  Cronstadt 
a  visit."  These  forts  are  furnished  with  the  heav- 
iest Krupp  guns  that  could  be  obtained,  which,  with 
the  mines  that  are  laid  in  the  narrow  channel,  ren- 
der the  place  practically  impregnable. 

I  spent  seven  years  in  this  "Little  Siberia,"  as  the 
officers  called  the  town,  and  resided  with  three  naval 
men,  who  had  been  all  round  the  world  and  now 
lived  together  as  merry  a  life  as  did  the  Three  Mus- 
keteers. One  of  them  was  a  lieutenant  of  Hun- 
garian origin,  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  Tsar's 


OFFICERS  AND  FRIENDS  153 

yacht;  the  second,  a  naval  engineer,  was  of  German 
extraction;  the  third,  a  remarkably  clever  Japanese 
scholar,  was  of  pure  Swedish  blood.  Little  did  we 
think,  when  tliey  used  to  dress  in  Japanese  costumes 
and  drink  tea  in  the  Eastern  manner,  that  in  a  few 
years  they  would  be  engaged  in  a  life-and-death 
struggle  with  the  Japanese  whose  language  and 
peculiar  social  ceremonials  this  member  of  our  party 
had  mastered  so  thoroughly.  Like  most  Russian 
officers,  they  were  all  splendid  linguists,  speaking 
English,  French  and  German  with  equal  fluency. 
They  had  all  been  to  Japan,  and  had  married  there, 
and,  as  with  many  other  Europeans,  the  three  little 
Japanese  wives  had  made  these  world-wanderers 
so  happy  and  comfortable  that  they  did  not  wish 
to  return.  But  at  the  call  of  duty  they  said  the 
sad  farewells,  and  came  back  to  "little  Siberia" 
to  work  and  perhaps  to  remember. 

When  I  eventually  removed  to  St.  Petersburg, 
my  duties  as  foreign  correspondent  brought  me  into 
contact  with  officers  of  the  Guards,  from  whom  I 
learnt  a  good  deal  about  not  only  the  Russian  Army, 
but  the  other  Continental  forces,  the  qualities  of 
which  we  were  continually  discussing.  To  me  the 
most  interesting  of  all  these  friends  was  General 
Mansers  of  the  Imperial  Stafif,  with  whom  I  lived 
for  three  years.    His  name  had  been  corrupted  from 


154  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

Manners,  and  he  informed  me  that  he  was 
descended  from  Lord  IManners,  Duke  of  Rutland, 
who  fled  to  Sweden  after  the  battle  of  Tewkesbury 
or  one  of  the  great  struggles  that  took  place  in  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses.  When  Finland  was  taken  over 
by  Russia  many  Swedish  officers  entered  the  Rus- 
sian service. 

This  general,  a  handsome  little  man  with  aristo- 
cratic bearing,  had  two  ambitions — to  see  his  an- 
cestral estates  in  England,  and  to  marry  an  English 
wife.  Unfortunately  he  died  before  he  could  carry 
out  either  of  these  laudable  aims.  General  Mansers 
spoke  French  and  Swedish  to  perfection.  He  fre- 
quently visited  Berlin,  where  he  was  much  impressed 
by  the  Prussian  troops ;  he  told  me  that  he  detested 
-the  Prussians,  but  could  not  help  admiring  their 
Guards,  than  which  he  had  seen  no  finer  body  any- 
where. He  had  only  once  been  to  London ;  .had  he 
seen  our  Grenadier  Guards  and  the  Highlanders  he 
might  have  altered  his  opinion,  for  better  soldiers  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  than  these  brave  fellows 
who  have  so  successfully  withstood  the  attacks  of 
the  flower  of  the  Gennan  Army. 

General  Mansers,  who  was  a  keen  student  of  his- 
tory, used  to  affirm  that  there  were  only  seven  great 
"Polkovodzee"  (military  leaders)  who  by  genius 
had  transformed  the  art  of  war :  these  were,  if  I  re- 


OFFICERS  AND  FRIENDS  155 

member  correctly,  Alexander  the  Great,  Hamiibal, 
C^sar,  Eugene  of  Savoy,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  Mar- 
shal Saxe  and  Napoleon.  Why  Moltke,  Marlbor- 
ough and  Wellington  were  not  included  in  the  list 
I  could  not  understand;  but  not  being  a  military 
expert  I  deemed  it  wiser  to  accept  this  dictum  in 
silence.  According  to  students,  Cromwell  and 
Charles  XII  were  great  cavalry  leaders,  but  not 
"Polkovodzee." 

In  the  same  house  where  I  then  lived — in  fact, 
in  the  adjoining  apartments — was  the  great-grand- 
son of  that  famous  Swedish  officer  Colonel  Michel- 
son,  who  suppressed  the  insurrection  of  the  Cos- 
sack Pugacheff  after  several  of  Catherine's  ablest 
generals  had  been  defeated.  This  young  officer, 
who  was  only  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  was 
exceedingly  handsome,  tall,  fair,  of  erect  carriage, 
with  blue  eyes,  golden  hair,  and  a  fresh  ruddy 
complexion.  Although  his  family  had  resided  in 
Russia  since  the  days  of  Catherine  II,  he  preserved 
the  Viking  appearance  unaltered,  in  common  with 
many  Russian  officers  w^iose  Varangian  ancestors 
came  over  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  Michel- 
son  was  remarkably  studious,  and  spent  most  of 
his  time  reading  up  for  examinations,  or  in  the 
study  of  books  on  tactics  and  strategy.  He  re- 
sembled more  the  type  of  officer  I  had  often  met 


156  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

in  Germany  than  the  merry,  happy-go-lucky  and 
extravagant  Russian  of  the  'eighties  whom  I  so 
often  encountered  at  balls  and  supper-parties. 
"Wein,  weib,  und  gesang"  then  occupied  their  at- 
tention, just  as  tennis,  polo,  cricket,  hunting  and 
other  sports  absorb  the  superfluous  energy  of  many 
of  our  own  men.  The  bitter  lesson  of  the  Japanese 
War,  however,  taught  many  a  thoughtless,  reckless 
young  officer  that  soldiering  means  more  than 
pleasure-seeking,  and  that  sooner  or  later  comes  a 
day  when  those  who  neglect  to  make  themselves 
proficient  in  their  profession  must  pay  a  heavy  pen- 
alty. So  it  happened  with  many  a  merry  soul  on 
the  battlefields  of  Mukden  and  on  the  Yalu  River. 
The  lessons  of  that  sanguinary  campaign  have 
caused  the  General  Staff  to  introduce  numerous  re- 
forms, often  due  to  the  painstaking  care  of  General 
Koorapatkine,  who,  if  not  a  first-class  leader,  is 
without  doubt  a  second  Kitchener  as  regards  power 
of  organisation  and  looking  after  the  material  needs 
of  the  men  committed  to  his  charge.  The  officers 
have  become  much  more  serious  than  they  were  in 
the  days  before  so  many  disasters  befell  their  coun- 
try's arms.  Judging  from  what  I  learnt  on  the 
Continent  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  present  Arm- 
ageddon, the  money,  time  and  care  have  not  been 
wasted,  and  the  Russian  Army  now  in  action  is  far 


L 


OFFICERS  AND  FRIENDS  157 

more  efficient  than  it  has  been  for  very  many  years. 
An  instance  occurs  in  the  aviation  department; 
large  sums  have  been  spent,  until  in  aeroplanes  Rus- 
sia is  almost  on  a  level  with  France  and  Germany. 
With  Zeppelins  and  other  dirigibles  she  is  far  be- 
hind still,  and  may  suffer  in  consequence. 

After  leaving  St.  Petersburg  I  spent  several  sum- 
mers at  Krasno  Selo,  where  the  manoeuvres  are 
held;  there  I  constantly  met  officers  of  high  rank. 

The  most   interesting  of  all  was  General   R >, 

adjutant  to  Alexander  III,  and  former  commandant 
of  a  large  section  of  the  artillery  stationed  always 
on  the  Austrian  frontier.  A  jollier  soul  than  this 
old  general  I  have  seldom  known.  Although  nearly 
seventy,  he  had  all  the  energy  and  vitality  of  youth. 
He  laughed,  danced,  sang  and  even  drank  with  the 
liveliest;  but  with  all  his  gaiety  he  kept  thoroughly 
au  fait  with  his  professional  work.  He  delighted  in 
gathering  friends  round  him  and  relating  anecdotes 
and  adventures  of  his  younger  days  in  the  Turkish 
and  other  wars.  He  had  fought  under  three  Em- 
perors, and  naturally  had  plenty  of  good  stories. 
One  of  the  most  thrilling  was  a  tale  of  his  battery 
in  the  Turkish  campaign.  At  Plevna  all  the  men 
of  the  battery  except  himself  had  been  shot  down, 
and  he  expected  every  moment  to  be  killed  by  the 
advancing    enemy,    whose    soldiers    were    steadily 


158  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

ascending  the  slope  to  take  the  guns.  Seeing  that 
resistance  was  hopeless,  he  coolly  leaned  against  a 
field-piece  and  lit  a  cigarette.  As  he  smoked,  the 
Turks  drew  nearer  and  nearer  with  fixed  bayonets. 
Just  at  the  critical  instant,  when  he  thought  all 
was  over,  a  squadron  of  Cossacks  came  galloping 
round  the  hill ;  they  soon  routed  the  Turks,  the 
majority  of  whom  paid  dearly  for  their  rash  ad- 
vance. 

This  officer,  who  was  the  grandson  of  one  of  the 
last  Hospodars  of  Roumania.  was  also  of  foreign 
origin,  like  so  many  others.  When  we  remember 
that  thousands  of  these  men  are  of  German,  Swed- 
ish, Scottish  and  Polish  birlh  or  extraction,  we 
can  understand  why  they  arc  not  as  efficient  as 
the  officers  of  other  countries.  Studying  the  Rus- 
sian Army  and  Navy  List,  we  shall  be  astonished 
at  the  number  of  non-Russian  names ;  even  Tartar, 
Mongolian,  Caucasian  and  Greek.  As  long  as  they 
have  gone  through  the  military  school,  any  post, 
except  that  of  Minister,  is  open  to  them,  and  even 
that  is  obtainable  if  the  aspirant  belongs  to  the 
State  religion.  Among  old  Scottish  families  that 
have  made  a  home  for  themselves  in  Russia  and 
have  become  naturalised  the  Gordons  are  famous. 
General  Gordon  practically  ruled  during  the  absence 
of  Peter  the  Great  abroad.     Admiral  Greig,  an- 


OFFICERS  AND  FRIENDS  159 

other  Scotsman,  reorganised  the  Navy  under  Cath- 
erine; Barclay  de  Toll  fought  Napoleon  in  181 2; 
and  Todleben  raised  the  wonderful  fortifications 
of  Sevastopol  that  gave  so  much  trouble  to  the  Al- 
lies. There  are  also  Levins,  Leslies,  Stewarts,  Clay- 
hills  and  a  host  of  other  Scottish  names,  the  ma- 
jority of  which  came  into  Finland  and  the  Baltic 
Provinces  during  the  reigns  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
or  Peter  the  Great,  or  before  these  provinces  were 
annexed.  Others  are  of  Polish,  Swedish  and  Ger- 
man origin.  One  of  Catherine's  most  trusted  gen- 
erals was  an  Englishman,  who  rejoiced  in  the  home- 
ly name  of  Brown.  The  great  Skobeleff  is  said  to 
have  been  of  English  origin,  and  traced  his  descent 
from  a  Captain  Skobel,  an  officer  in  the  army  of 
Catherine  II.  Though  perhaps  not  so  refined  and 
cultivated  as  our  own,  these  gentlemen  are  for  the 
most  part  hearty,  jolly,  manly  fellows;  fond  of 
liquor,  dancing,  fun,  cards,  and  the  fair  sex — pos- 
sibly too  fond  of  these  pleasures  to  be  good  sol- 
diers. In  such  a  vast  army  there  must  be  all  cate- 
gories— frivolous,  ignorant,  cultured,  studious — 
as  in  other  armies.  But  I  should  say  that  offi- 
cers and  non-commissioned  officers  of  the  line  regi- 
ments in  Russia,  though  certainly  tough,  rough 
and  ready,  hardy  soldiers,  are  inferior  in  training 
and   education   to   the   English    and    German   and 


i6o  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

French.  In  the  Guards,  however,  and  in  the  regi- 
ments stationed  along  the  Austrian  and  German 
frontiers,  there  are  many  briUiant  officers  and  fine 
soldiers,  who  in  the  Japanese  War  had  no  chance  of 
showing  their  ability.  Some  of  these  are  now  be- 
ginning to  show  what  metal  they  are  made  of, 
doubtless  to  the  surprise  of  the  Austrians. 

From  one  of  the  leading  generals  who  took  an 
active  part  in  the  siege  of  Plevna,  I  learnt  that  the 
military  arrangements  were  so  inefficient  that  had 
it  not  been  for  the  corruption  of  the  Turkish  Pashas 
the  entire  army  of  invasion  would  have  perished 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Danube.  The  Russians 
prefer  to  "muddle  through"  like  ourselves;  but  that 
bad  habit  has  cost  them  so  much  in  men  and  money 
that  in  future  they  will  trust  less  to  luck  and  more 
to  sound  preparation. 

Among  the  men  who  have  done  so  much  to  im- 
prove the  fighting  forces  we  must  not  forget  the 
late  General  Dragoniroff,  whose  handbooks  on  the 
subject  of  soldiering  have  been  translated  into  al- 
most every  European  tongue.  Another  notable 
General  is  Rennenkampf,  who  in  the  Japanese  War 
gained  great  distinction  for  himself  and  his  cavalry. 
In  the  present  conflict  this  brilliant  man  is  again 
winning  honours.  General  Linevitch,  the  "old 
wolf,"  was  also  the  idol  of  his  men  in  Manchuria, 


OFFICERS  AND  F"RIENDS  i6i 

where  he  saw  more  active  service  than  Koorapat- 
kine  and  others  who  were  there  before  him;  rtot 
until  the  Army  was  in  difficulties  vvas  this  old  war- 
rior appointed  to  the  position  he  should  have  held 
at  first.  At  Mukden  he  retreated  in  good  order  to 
Tieling,  with  his  entire  army  intact,  while  those  of 
Koorapatkine  and  Orleff  were  fearfully  broken; 
in  addition  to  saving  his  men,  he  brought  with  him 
to  Tieling  seven  Japanese  cannon  and  several  thou- 
sand prisoners.  Shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
war  General  Linevitch,  worn  out  with  toil,  and  dis- 
appointed by  the  ingratitude  and  neglect  which  had 
been  his  portion,  was  called  to  his  well-earned  rest. 

Michenko,  a  Little  Russian,  is  another  celebrated 
cavalry  officer;  but  whether  he  will  again  achieve 
fame  remains  to  be  seen.  Grippenberg,  Kaulbars 
and  Stackelberg  are  three  more  excellent  comman- 
ders of  whom,  if  they  still  live,  we  ought  to  hear 
in  the  course  of  the  fighting  on  the  Continent.  The 
Army  has  many  hitherto  unknown  leaders  only 
awaiting  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  themselves; 
such  a  one  is  General  Russky,  whose  name  none  of 
us  had  heard  until  he  brought  it  into  world-promi- 
nence by  his  fine  action  at  Lemberg. 

Most  of  the  skilled  generals  who  took  part  in 
the  last  war  are  now  too  old  for  active  service,  or 
have  passed   away.     Koorapatkine,   after   writing 


i62  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

the  memoirs  in  which  he  endeavoured  to  acquit  him- 
self of  blame  for  the  series  of  defeats  sustained  by 
the  forces  under  his  control,  has  retired  to  his  beau- 
tiful Finnish  estate,  where  he  will  hear  only  echoes 
of  the  clash  of  arms.  General  Sacharoff,  Chief  of 
Staff,  I  believe  was  assassinated.  General  Tserpnit- 
sky,  brave  and  talented,  was  killed  at  Port  Arthur, 
whilst  Grippenberg  and  Stackelberg,  of  Swedish  and 
German  origin  respectively,  fell  into  disgrace,  prob- 
ably owing  to  their  foreign  birth.  The  modern 
Russian  resents  being  led  by  men  of  foreign  ex- 
traction, though  there  have  been  many  officers  of 
mixed  blood — among  them  Souvoroff,  Gordon, 
Barclay  de  Toll,  Bagriaton,  Gourko,  Count  Witten- 
stein,  Todleben,  Radetsky  and  Skobeleff.  Koora- 
patkine  was,  I  think,  a  pure  Russ,  and  so  was  Koute- 
soff,  the  Russian  "Cunctator,"  though  one  can  hardly 
tenn  them  first-class  military  leaders.  There  is  a 
tendency  now  to  eliminate  the  foreign  element,  and 
the  last  Alinisters  for  War  were  pure  Russians. 

Among  prominent  officers  who  doubtless  will  have 
much  to  say  during  the  present  war  we  may  note 
the  following:  General  J.  Martsen,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Wilna  Military  Circuit;  General  R. 
Suchomiloff,  Minister  for  War;  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas,  General  of  the  Cavalry,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Regiments  of  the  Guard  for  the  mill- 


OFFICERS  AND  FRIENDS  163 

tary  district  of  St.  Petersburg;  General  Skalon, 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Warsaw  MiHtary  Cir- 
cuit; and  General  Ivanofif,  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Kieff  Circuit.  As  this  war  goes  on  we  shall 
probably  hear  a  good  deal  of  these  clever  men,  also, 
no  doubt,  of  others  such  as  Russky,  whose  names 
have  not  yet  become  highly  distinguished. 


MILITARY    SCnOOLS 


CHAPTER  XIV 
MILITARY   SCHOOLS 

IN  Petrograd,  Moscow,  Odessa,  Omsk,  Tomsk, 
Irkutsk,  and  many  other  towns  of  Russia  and 
Siberia  are  some  very  fine  military  academies.  These 
buildings  are  on  so  elaborate  a  scale  that  they  might 
well  be  taken  for  palaces ;  others,  such  as  the  Sap- 
pers' School  in  Petrograd  and  the  Corps  de  Pages, 
have  actually  been  palaces  in  days  gone  by.  This 
is  a  subject  which  some  of  our  own  officers  might 
well  take  up,  for  it  is  worthy  of  attention.  I  do  not 
remember  how  many  thousands  of  officers  the 
schools  turn  out  annually,  but  it  is  a  very  impressive 
total,  for  there  are  about  70,000  officers  in  the  Rus- 
sian Army — 30,000  commissioned  and  40,000  non- 
commissioned. The  majority  of  the  best  officers  are 
educated  in  these  academies,  which  I  have  often 
visited  with  great  satisfaction  and  pleasure.  I  have 
also  frequently  attended  the  shooting  contests  at 
Krasno  Selo  between  the  cadets  and  the  infantry  of 
the  Guards,  and  have  been  surprised  to  see  that  the 
highly  trained  cadets  from  the  military  academies 

167 


i68  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

made  better  scoring  than  the  ordinary  artillery-nicn. 
Perhaps  this  could  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
latter  are  neither  so  well  trained  nor  so  scientific 
as  the  cadets. 

That  excellent  work,  "Die  Russiche  Anne,"  pub- 
lished in  Berlin  in  19 12,  has  some  pertinent  remarks 
on  this  subject.  The  author  says:  "The  technical 
education  of  the  officers  is  looked  after  by  the  vari- 
ous military  academies,  which  train  and  educate 
the  cadets  according  to  the  l)ranch  of  service  they 
have  decided  to  enter.  The  Nicholas  Military  Acad- 
emy prepares  candidates  for  the  staff  after  they 
have  served  three  years  in  the  regular  army.  The 
Michael  Artillery  Academy,  named  after  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael,  trains  officers  for  the  artillery  of  the 
Guard.  The  Nicholas  Academy  of  Engineers  is 
for  officers  who  wish  to  become  military  engineers 
and  sappers.  The  Alexander  Juridical  Academy  is 
for  the  benefit  of  officers  who  wish  to  be  instructors 
in  the  military  schools.  Another  academy  trains  of- 
ficers for  the  commissariat  department ;  while  lastly, 
the  Medical  Academy  takes  charge  of  the  education 
of  the  army  doctors." 

It  would  take  too  long  to  describe  all  the  similar 
military  institutions  in  the  Empire.  They  are  all 
being  maintained  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency  at  the 
cost  of  many  millions  of  roubles  annually.    Enough, 


MILITARY  SCHOOLS  169 

however,  has  been  written  to  show  what  a  great 
amount  of  energy  and  wealth  is  directed  into  the 
single  channel  of  the  Army,  also  to  indicate  what  a 
glowing  future  is  in  store  for  Russia  directly  her 
vast  resources  become  more  consolidated  and  better 
organised.  Her  very  vastness  is  her  greatest  weak- 
ness, and  if  she  does  not  emerge  triumphant  from 
the  present  struggle  it  will  not  be  for  the  want  of 
men,  money,  or  natural  wealth,  but  by  reason  of 
the  internal  dissensions  which  are  so  liable  gradually 
to  weaken  her  gigantic  power  for  offence.  In  much 
the  same  way  racial  and  religious  hatred  is  paralys- 
ing the  strength  and  efficiency  of  the  Austrian 
Army.  The  constant  and,  it  seems,  inevitable  in- 
ternal discontent  is  Russia's  greatest  enemy,  rather 
than  the  power  or  number  of  the  Austro-German 
troops,  against  whom,  so  far,  she  has  more  than 
held  her  own. 

In  taking  her  Army  into  consideration,  we  must 
remember  that  a  very  considerable  portion  of  it 
cannot  be  used  for  offensive  purposes.  I  should 
say  that  at  least  one  million  men  must  be  kept  in 
Finland,  the  Baltic  Provinces,  Poland,  Little  Rus- 
sia, and  the  Caucasus  to  watch  the  disaffected  ele- 
ments of  the  population  and  to  repress  any  attempts 
to  throw  off  allegiance  to  the  Tsar.  If  the  Poles, 
Finns,  Caucasians,  Little  Russians,  and  the  inhabi- 


I70  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

tants  of  the  Baltic  Provinces  are  loyal  and  give  no 
trouble,  Russia  should  not  only  be  able  to  inflict  a 
crushing  defeat  on  Germany,  but  might  also  annex 
Galicia  and  the  Slavonic  provinces  of  Austria ;  thus 
would  her  power  and  influence  over  the  Slavs  be 
increased.  But  her  offensive  power,  as  I  have  noted, 
entirely  depends  on  the  internal  political  state  of  the 
country;  and  on  this  depends  essentially  her  success 
in  the  terrible  struggle. 


CONCLUDING  REMARKS 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS 

WHETHER  Russia  is  victorious  or  not, 
whether  she  is  triumphant  or  humiUated,  in 
the  Titanic  struggle,  it  is  evident  that  it  is  only  a 
question  of  time  for  her  to  become  the  first  power 
in  Europe.  Greater  Russia  has  been  closed  too  long 
to  Western  influences,  and  if  this  war  stimulates 
interest  in  her  great  future  and  vast  resources  it 
will  have  at  least  one  bright  side.  Siberia  alone, 
which  contains  some  of  the  richest  corn-growing 
land  in  the  world,  is  about  twice  the  size  of  our 
Continent.  It  is  said  that  the  black-earth  belt,  on 
which  the  finest  crops  can  be  raised,  stretches  for 
several  thousand  miles,  from  the  Altai  mountains  in 
Asia  to  the  Carpathians  in  Europe.  On  this  suf- 
ficient wheat  could  be  grown  to  feed  the  whole  of 
Europe  and  a  large  part  of  Asia  besides.  There 
is  so  much  spare  land,  in  fact,  that  it  could  support 
if  necessary  600  millions  of  inhabitants  instead  of 
the  present   180  millions. 

Russia,  although  only  a  young  State,  has  shown 
that  her  people  have  been  gifted  by  nature  with 
those    intellectual    and    spiritual    qualities    without 

173 


174  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

which  no  race  can  ever  attain  true  greatness;  she 
has  produced  men  of  the  first  rank  in  vveHnigh  every 
important  walk  of  life.  In  literature  we  find  Push- 
kin, Lermontofif,  Gogol,  Turgenieff,  Tolstoi,  Dostoi- 
effsky,  Gorki,  Tchekoff,  and  many  others;  some 
of  these  may  well  be  compared  with  the  greatest 
geniuses  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  Gogol  re- 
sembles Dickens,  but  he  is  a  Dickens  full  of  poetry 
and  unfathomable  depths  of  feeling  and  sorrow. 
Those  who  have  heard  "the  bitter  laughter  of  his 
weeping,"  as  he  calls  his  writings,  do  not  easily 
forget  it. 

In  music,  Russia  has  many  great  names,  some 
of  which  are  beginning  to  be  known  in  England. 
Already  she  has  produced  a  National  Opera,  with 
notable  composers  such  as  Glinka,  Rubenstein, 
Tchaikoffsky,  Rimsky  Korsakoff,  Dargoniinski. 
Her  engineers  have  spanned  the  Empire  with  rail- 
ways which  are  the  wonder  of  the  travelling  world; 
in  art  and  in  medicine  her  sons  are  making  tliem- 
selves  known,  and  as  soldiers  we  have  seen  their 
imprint  on  history.  If  in  the  space  of  two  hundred 
years  Russia  could  attain  such  distinction,  what  will 
she  accomplish  when  her  millions  are  educated, 
when  they  have  had  the  benefit  of  the  increased  in- 
tercourse with  the  worlds  of  art  and  science  which 
we  and  our  nearer  neighbours  now  enjoy?     Her 


CONCLUDING  REMARKS  175 

power  for  good  or  for  evil  will  be  doubled,  and 
the  day  will  approach  when  Napoleon's  prophecy, 
though  delayed,  will  come  true. 

Over  the  future,  however,  a  veil  of  darkness  lies ; 
the  horizon  is  now  clouded  by  the  fog  and  dust  of 
war — a  war  in  which  the  rougher  passions  hold 
sway  and  master  the  finer  instincts  of  the  people. 
It  seems  that  we  must  pass  through  this  Inferno 
before  Europe  will  learn  how  to  maintain  peace 
without  the  aid  of  cruel  armaments  that  even  in 
tranquil  times  tend  to  crush  the  life  out  of  so- 
called  Christian  and  civilised  nations.  The  present 
war,  the  final  effects  of  which  we  shall  never  see,  is 
the  most  terrible  in  the  world's  history;  in  com- 
parison with  it  all  others  seem  but  child's  play. 
The  officers  and  experienced  soldiers  taking  part 
in  it  say  that  they  have  never  known  anything  to 
equal  the  magnitude  of  its  horrors  or  the  suffering 
it  has  already  caused. 

A  Russian  writer,  whose  name  is  unfamiliar  to 
me,  says:  "In  truth,  the  whole  world  now  be- 
holds what  terrific  proportions  modern  warfare  can 
attain,  and  one  involuntarily  asks  the  question, 
What  is  going  to  happen  next,  if  we  proceed  still 
further — in  our  Christian  era — in  perfecting  the  im- 
plements for  mirtual  destruction?  There  can  only 
be  one  answer  to  this  question :  humanity  is  march- 


1/6  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

ing  towards  self-extermination.  War  will  thus  be- 
come an  absurdity,  since  all  the  belligerents  will 
become  mutual  exterminators  of  one  another;  and 
the  word  'victor'  will  bear  the  same  meaning  for 
all— Ruin." 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

A  FEW  details  of  the  extent  of  Russia's  ter- 
ritory may  be  of  interest  as  giving  an  idea 
of  the  resources  open  to  her  in  times  of  emergency. 

The  total  area  of  the  Empire  in  Europe  and 
North  Asia  exceeds  8,660,000  square  miles — that 
is,  it  forms  one-sixth  of  the  land  surface  of  the 
globe.  The  length  of  the  land  frontier  line  in 
Europe  is  2800  miles;  in  Asia,  nearly  10,000  miles. 
The  greatest  breadth  of  territory  from  north  to 
south  is  2932  miles,  and  the  greatest  length  from 
east  to  west  is  7680  miles. 

This  tremendous  expanse  is  divided  into  eighteen 
Provinces,  seventy-seven  Governments,  and  two 
Circuits.  A  single  Russian  Government  is  frequent- 
ly the  size  of  one  of  the  largest  of  the  other  Euro- 
pean States,  while  an  "Oojezd"  (District),  the 
minor  division  of  a  Province,  is  often  as  large  as 
Holland  or  Belgium.  Germany  and  Austria  com- 
bined are  only  equal  in  area  to  two  of  Russia's  larger 
Governments. 

As  regards  population,  I  have  already  given  some 
remarkable  figures.     The  immense  increase,   even 

179 


i8o  THE  RUSSIAN  ARMY 

in  the  short  period  since  the  close  of  the  war  with 
Japan,  shows  perliaps  better  than  anything  else  the 
njarvelloiis  vitality  and  power  of  recuperation  of 
the  Russian  people.  Of  the  total  population  of  the 
Empire,  the  majority  are  Orthodox  Slavs.  There 
are  about  lo  million  Catholic  Poles,  5  million  Lithu- 
anians, 5  million  Jews,  5  million  Germans,  and 
probably  13  million  Tartars,  Caucasians,  Tchoo- 
vash,  Finnish,  and  other  races,  from  whom  Russia 
can  obtain  vast  numbers  of  soldiers  if  necessary. 
I  should  say  that  over  100  million  of  the  people 
belong  to  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church ;  the  remain- 
der comprise  Dissenters,  Roman  Catholics,  Ma- 
hommedans,  and  Buddhists. 


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